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1[[WMG:[[center: [-''' ''Franchise/TheIdolMaster'' YMMV index'''\
2[[YMMV/TheIdolMaster General]] | 765 Continuity (''[[YMMV/TheIdolmaster 2]]'', ''[[YMMV/TheIdolmasterMillionLive Million Live!]]'') | ''[[YMMV/TheIdolmasterDearlyStars Dearly Stars]]'' | '''''Cinderella Girls''''' | ''[[YMMV/TheIdolmasterSideM SideM]]'' | ''[[YMMV/TheIdolmasterShinyColors Shiny Colors]]'' | ''[[YMMV/IdolmasterXenoglossia Xenoglossia]]'']]]]-]
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4[[foldercontrol]]
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6[[folder:Tropes Present in the Franchise as a whole]]
7* {{Adorkable}}: Chizuru isn't the cutest girl in CG, nor the one with best body, but her constant attempts to be a cute idol while keeping her cool persona have charmed most of the fandom.
8* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
9** While Mayu is canonically a {{Yandere}}, some fans like to exaggerate a few other idols' personality traits to behave similarly. Specifically, Chieri and her dependency issues, Yukari and her obsessive traits, and Kyoko, who is simply portrayed as TheSociopath (likely due to her BewareTheNiceOnes card). It should be noted that all of these girls are in the Cute category, and there are [[FourIsDeath four of them]]. To top it off, we got [[https://www.project-imas.com/wiki/File:KyokoIgarashiSRare%2B4.jpg these]] [[https://www.project-imas.com/wiki/File:KyokoIgarashiSRare%2B4S.jpg cards]] for Kyoko. Fans are either amazed that Kyoko managed to pull it like it was nothing, or terrified because it's just too good to be true.[[labelnote:footnote]]Keep in mind, this is before she got voiced.[[/labelnote]]
10** Riamu's display of her state-of-depression, combined with her self-loathing and occasional badmouthing gives an impression that she might be just making it up to gain popularity. Later cards and event commus painted her in some sort of NostalgiaFilter scope, and is currently having to live a life alone without depending on anyone, which ended up opening more can of worms.
11** Eve being introduced as a homeless opens up a few things whether [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane if she's really Santa Claus (or at least one of them) or just a delusional homeless girl]] that the producer took a pity and helped out. Her gifts being stolen could be alluded to group of thugs and delinquents harassing her and taking her belongings away by force, something that's [[TruthInTelevision surprisingly common in Metropolitan Japan]].
12* AuthorsSavingThrow: Many who were dissatisfied with the Cinderella Election in 2019, where unknown names managed to get into the Top 10, were delighted when the 2020 voting gauntlet added a voice election so that unvoiced idols can get their voice without having to invade the annual election through [[MemeticMutation meme votes]].
13* BaseBreakingCharacter:
14** Anzu Futaba was [[AmericansHateTingle widely detested]] [[VocalMinority by a small, but very vocal]] [[AmericansHateTingle Western fanbase]] and accuses Bamco and/or Cygames for designing her to pander on [[LoliconAndShotacon a certain crowd]] without feeling guilty over it as she's on a legal age. It doesn't help that her character and personality trait might rub some in wrong way, along with some of her outfits that can be quite risque for her figure that really turns people off of her and then some. Others enamored her especially from the more college-age adult part of the fanbase that finds her relatable to some degree.
15** Mika Jougasaki was widely contested in some, more critical part of the fandom like in [[Website/FourChan 4Chan]], specifically the [=The iDOLM@STER=] general threads. Reason is that her voiceover and ImageSong is considered too bland for her supposedly GyaruGirl archertype and she doesn't live up to her character that much and she ended up slowly being the generic CoolBigSis instead, which the franchise already had too much to begin with, citing that the writers won't take too much risks for her. Doesn't help that [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking both of her image song chart]] is [[ThatOneLevel considerably difficult]] thanks to copious amount of FakeDifficulty. Others who defended her saying that almost everyone in the franchise is a one-note character archertype and doesn't start off with much character to begin with and it's still considered a good step over flanderizing her into a stereotype. A third party doesn't find her to be a perfect fit for a Passion-type idol as she doesn't feel as dedicated to the gyaru fashion or passionate as her little sister, and finds her better as a Cool-type idol instead, where her cool big-sis-senior idol character fits better there.
16** Recently, Kanade got herself a flak from the other side of the fandom as Bamco tried their best to shoehorn her into many duet events (with Kaede and Minami respectively) that screw up many ship from the paired (Minami and Anya, the most well-known yuri ship from the anime, is almost ignored, while Kaede pairings are very niche) and ignoring Kanade's other, more well-known ship (the ones with Fumika, Arisu, or the combination of two). Others doesn't find it bothersome as the shipper suggest and does appreciate Bamco's acknowledgement of the LesYay side of the fandom by giving them a well-made event song, acknowledging that Yuko Iida (Kanade's Voice Actress) [[EnsembleDarkhorse is the one with the most availability among other well known idols in the production]].
17** A big one came from ''Starlight Stage'', the Duo Servant and Master Chiyo and Chitose respectably were divisive and widely contested by the community (and sometimes just outright hated) thanks to their inclusion in the franchise; getting their voice and duet song immediately after being announced. Keep in mind that this was before the Voice Idol Election were reinstated in 2020 and getting a voice actress for an idol commonly requires that idol to be at the very least being at the top 10 of the yearly election (or the top 3 of each type), so their inclusion rub many fans the wrong way that enough for the playerbase to plummet all time low. Defenders however cited that the detractors are overreacting with their hatred and find the event both were in were pretty good that does fleshes them out in short time, plus the fact that Million Live Theater Days has done the same with Kaori and Tsumugi[[labelnote:Explanation]]This is partly because of the ValuesDissonance on each different part of the fandom (and installation). Previously, in the [=OG-Mas=] era (and by extension the Million Live and Shiny Colors sub-franchises), almost every idol introduced will be immediately assigned with their respective voice actress (or voice actors in case of the Project Jupiter members) since their numbers are relatively small, and hiring voice actress for their respective roles is pretty much easier when the roll call is fully established. The Cinderella Girls idol however received their respective voice roll calls in a batch, mostly picked at the executive's behest until the fifth batch where the election's top 10 for each type will start to be included in the voiced batch (which will also receive their ImageSong sometime in the future). They realized that because of the huge cast that consists of hundreds of idols couldn't be immediately given voiceover roll call and thus starting to only give voices to the ones who placed high in the elections, or through other medium like the Anime or side materials (Risa Matoba is an interesting case that she actually receives her place on the last election, but receives her voice through a short animated spin-off). While both introduction of Kaori and Tsumugi in the Theater Days getting their voice upon release was a normal occurrence for the ML (and OG) playerbase, CG players considered it as a controversial move for Chiyo and Chitose because anyone who got their voice definitely '''''earns''''' it (or simply because of the meme votes. See MemeticMutation below), which draws ire from the playerbase when BAMCO start implementing their other game's ruling to the franchise[[/labelnote]]. The same thing can also applies to the Hisakawa twins (Nagi and Hayate), through they aren't so divisive compared to the previous two. Eventually the hate train died down and many have accepted their inclusion (along with Hayate and Nagi) to the cast, though there are still salty part of the (former) playerbase still sworn not to touch the game ever since.
18* BestKnownForTheFanservice: While not as severe as ''Shiny Colors'', characters such as Shizuku (cow-themed Idol with an 105cm bust measurement) and Airi (Rather shapely Idol who proceeds to strip when feeling hot) have gotten the notice of people who wouldn't have noticed the game. This lessened with the anime's release, showing a better picture of the actual game.
19** A good portion of the fanbase seems to knew some of the idols form the fanworks based on them rather than what they're seen in the official medias, which includes NSFW artworks and pornographic doujins involving them. Idols like Fumika, Minami, and even the likes of Momoka and Chie were pretty infamous regarding the subject (especially Fumika), being more well-known among doujin circles than the fans of the game (though they tend to overlap with each other).
20* BrokenBase: A lot of fans weren't satisfied with the Producer-and-Idol dynamics introduced with the launch of the original mobage. Many remark that the writing felt like a bland, washed out or/and watered down version of the OG games has introduced, as if trying too hard trying to pander to everyone's interest. There's also complaints of how lacking the Idol-and-Idol dynamics and relationship in the base game, which irks shippers, initially. This slowly died down as the game goes on, and pretty much a moot after the release of the Anime, alongside the release of the Rhythm Game Starlight Stage, which considerably adding more to the character writing and the Idol-with-Idol dynamics, as well as launching many pairings that the fandom was accustomed with.
21** Bandai Namco's decision to merge the 7th Cinderella Girl election voting from both games rubbed some players in the wrong way. The top 10 ended up being very different for each game, other than both games ranking Nana and Mio very highly. Both of them would take top 2 for the election.
22*** The fact that can you can bulk-buy your voting ticket by simply buying them using 2500 paid jewels really speaks to itself. This ensure that the idol will always receive hundreds to thousands of votes, and might end up killing the competition. This applies for both games (the original game wants you to buy votes for [=MobaCoins=], Mobage's premium currency, for better or worse), with Starlight Stage ramping it up to eleven.
23*** To add to grievance, characters that got their rear ends in the top 10 for overall or idol category will be voiced and receive their CD soon, resulting in players that simply exploit the voting ticket to vote on specific unvoiced characters so that they will receive their CD soon. With a few, more dedicated examples (Fumika, Shiki, Mayu, Kaede, Karen, and Aiko), this gives an impression that most of the voting gauntlet were only vote x idols out of cynicism. Some were fine for this, since it gives a random but resurging idol to finally got that spotlight they were promised. Others weren't as impressed, and loathe it at times, citing that the top 10 should only be given towards idols that deserves it, namely idols with dedicated fanbase that worked hard for the rank as shown above, keeping the title namesake clear. It doesn't help that outside of the Cinderella Election, Starlight Stage events, and that one time Anniversary Voice Election, there aren't much any other way for an idol to get a voice.
24** To an extent, there are some people who are dissatisfied with the changes done by Nippon Columbia (and maybe Bamco) regarding the Master Version[[note]]The long version of the music that appears in the game[[/note]] of Deresute original songs in STARLIGHT MASTER albums, mainly the changes of the singer's position on the lyrics and how it sounds off from the one that appeared in the rhythm game.
25*** In the weird inversion, people were actually upset with the changes done to the music from the Gekijou miniseries endings when they got adapted to ''Starlight Stage''. Not only do already present issues such as rearranging the vocal placement and the lyrics still exist here, but also the pacing of the song is butchered due to cut-downs in order to fit in with the two-and-quarter minute standard the game usually presents.
26*** Ironically enough, Cygames releases an ''Utaiwake'' feature where you can rearrange the singer's position whatever you like to specific songs (such as Tulip). You can even rearrange the singers to make it sounds like the MASTER version of the song.
27*** The decision to leave the second and third season endings into the game left mixed impression. Some were alright with it, since Gekijou endings were just supplementary to the discography, while others were disappointed and writ it as wasted potential as they liked the ending, specifically the third season batches. Through all the second season endings eventually get an event and a 3D MV, with the third season's "Itoshiisa~❤" following suite.
28** Cygames's attempt to filter out players that uses hacks in the game becomes this since accounts that uses mods (like a HD render [=.apk=]) were also got filtered out, leaving legitimate users permanently banned with no chance to recover their account.
29* CantUnhearIt: Admit it, you can no longer unhear Nao Touyama playing [[PlayingAgainstType a mature, older character that's far from what she usually portrayed]].
30* FandomRivalry: Typical to the main franchise, ''Cinderella Girls'' garners quite a rivalry with several other fictional idol franchise, especially with other idol franchise that has a free-to-play mobile rhythm game like ''VideoGame/LoveLiveSchoolIdolFestival'' and ''VideoGame/BangDreamGirlsBandParty''.
31** Recently, the fandom gets into a fiasco with [[Music/{{BTS}} the ARMY]] after the latter managed to flood the [=#MAGIC=] Twitter hashtag that was meant to announce the release of the fully-functional Grand Version of [[InsertSong [="M@GIC!"=]]][[labelnote:*]]The CINDERELLA PROJECT Leitmotif sung in the anime[[/labelnote]] for the ''Starlight Stage'' game with the ones referring to the "MAGIC SHOP"[[labelnote:*]]A record part of the "Love Yourself : Tear" album by BTS[[/labelnote]]. While the large portion of the fandom only reacts in cringe and mild disappointment, some of the more vocal ones won't take it that easily.
32* FanNickname:
33** The Producer, having no officially confirmed name, is referred as [=TakeuchiP=] and [=TakeP=] based on his voice actor. At the time, he had the just as popular, if not more so, nickname of [=KuzukiP=], due to his semblance to [[Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks a certain stoic teacher from another anime airing around that time]]. At least [[http://2015jan.image.akibablog.net/images/26/chinderella-girls/113.jpg one store from Akihabara acknowledged the similarity.]]
34** Some fans on [[Website/FourChan /a/]] have also taken to calling him {{Moe}}P.
35* FriendlyFandoms: Unexpectedly with the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' franchise, due to [[Creator/DavidHayter David "Solid Snake" Hayter]] and quite a few other [=VAs=] endorsing Natalia in the 8th Cinderella Election. Which resulted in the long-running fan campaign to get Natalia voiced finally succeeding.
36** The fandom also has a significant connection with other Cygames IP like ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'' and ''[[VideoGame/PrincessConnect Princess Connect! Re:Dive]]''. The latter being a special case since a lot of effort was done for the promotional of the Cinderella Girls collab rerun event.
37** Unsurprisingly, ever since a collab concert with Franchise/LoveLive was announce back in August 2023, the Cinderella Girls fandom has quickly become friendly with that of Love Live, especially
38** Many of the subculture-related idols are naturally popular among the fandoms they represent, such as Miyo Harada being popular among motoring enthusiasts and fans of ''[[Series/TopGearUK Top Gear.]]''
39* HarsherInHindsight:
40** Any of Riamu's lines where she mentions her being sickly and unhealthy becomes much less funny after her voice actress was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia in late September 2022.
41** The story of Layla (who hails from Dubai, at least according to what she says) hiding away from her father becomes significantly more tragic once you realize that Middle Eastern girls escaping from (frequently abusive) parental control are very much TruthInTelevision. '''Especially''' once you read about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latifa_bint_Mohammed_Al_Maktoum_(born_1985) Sheikha Latifa]]'s disappearance.
42* JustHereForGodzilla: Recently, a lot of newcomers went only for the game (and to an extent, ''Starlight Stage'') just to get to know Mio Honda because of her memetic Fried Chicken video listed on MemeticMutation below.
43** Similarly in ''Starlight Stage'', people would only farm Star Jewels or whale for an SSR just for the costume design.
44* MemeticLoser:
45** IF there is a type that does stand less among the others, the Cute type takes the cake. Unlike other types that converges into different interests as long as it's still in line with its core concept, the Cute type by its core concept is to be cute or adorable but nothing much else, with very few exceptions (like Shiki, Sae, Mayu, and Makoto for the original mobage). It doesn't help that most of the Image songs were either formulaic ([=S(mile)ING!=] for Uzuki, La Vie en Rose for Momoka, Naked Romance for Miho, to name a few) or downright obnoxious ([=Märchen=] Debut! for Nana, [=Ki-ma-gu-re☆Cafe au lait!=] for Frederica, Anzu no Uta for Anzu) among other things. While they have a strong following, most of them agreed that the Cute type as a whole isn't as interesting as the other two, and proceed to meme-ing them ever since.
46** The trio unit "New Wave" consisting of Izumi Oishi, Sakura Muramatsu, and Ako Tsuchiya, is released and pushed by Bamco as the next "New Generations", even being splintered into other three monotype units like Newgens. Unfortunately, they were released during the time when the Dearly Stars idols (including [[EnsembleDarkhorse Ryo]] in his crossdressing glory) were released to the mobage, resulting them being [[OvershadowedByAwesome overshadowed by them and anything else in the games proper]]. Despite having been fleshed out more and more ever since release, their reception is mild at best, and the release of [[EnsembleDarkhorse Next Newcomer trio]] [[CountryMouse Akari]], [[GamerChick Akira]], and [[StrawFan Riamu]], only further widen the popularity rift with each other, as they're barely breaking the top 50 of each respective types in the voting gauntlets. Izumi is considered the most popular of the three, receving enough votes during the Stage For Cinderella batch four to receive a voice and having decent scoring in the finals, though the other two weren't so lucky.
47** Before claiming the crown of the 8th Cinderella Girls General Election in 2019, Mio Honda was this to an extent. Mio always ranked high in the Cinderella Election and many wanted her to take the namesake title. However, things weren't as pleasant as she had been the underdog since the 4th election (thanks to her own AdaptationalJerkass of the anime), and was always kept under the rug by both long runners (Kaede is always expected to win the election since her inclusion because of the [[EnsembleDarkhorse obvious]]) or the unforeseen consequences (Nana's inclusion to the voting gauntlet was unexpected to the least, since her winning vote was mostly came from the pun surrounding her name. Though she always ranked high since the very beginning, therefore downplaying this) resulting her to be memed on to death by even her fans, with the English speaking fandom being the most vocal about it.
48** Like Chihaya, Aiko is also a source of ACupAngst-themed posts.
49** For Shipping reasons, Mika is often portrayed as being teased and bullied by her coworkers on [=LiPPS=]. Doesn't help that she's seen by both writers and the fandom as the OnlySaneMan among the group, having to constantly cautious of each member's antics lest she fall victim to one of their shenanigans, like being experimented by Shiki or having to foot Syuko's tab. She also has a other kind of memetic presence below.
50** Poor Karen Hojo will never catch a break, as her weak body makes her a subject for mockery, on whether she'll die from collapse, or if she's a ghost who already died long before.
51*** Interestingly enough, this doesn't apply to Chitose, despite being sick herself and having even less chance of survival than Karen. It has something to do with the fact that she is mostly dominant in conversations.
52** Sachiko is already a resident ButtMonkey by canon, but the fandom is merciless towards her, always being the receiving end of baps and bullying.
53** Nao is this compared to other members of Triad Primus, even moreso than the aforementioned Karen. Being constantly teased and pranked in canon by her fellow Triad members, and being the least standing out of the three (Rin and Karen has better development out of the three), and the fandom (especially fanartist) often portray her as being smug and cocky at first, only to be flustered and step aside like a ButtMonkey she is.
54** Haruna Kamijo has gotten hit with this hard as she hasn't recieved an SSR since August of 2016, especially after unvoiced idols started to get second SSR's. This escalated even further after she got a solo through the Cingeki anime and merely got a very short commu and a 2D-only MV in Starlight Stage. It is not until September 2020 that a second SSR of her has been implemented in Starlight Stage.
55** Ever since she was released and her lines got translated, Riamu quickly becomes the fandom's definitive [[ThisLoserIsYou punching]][[ButtMonkey bag]], quickly eclipsing the resident ButtMonkey Sachiko from the fandom. The Japanese fandom loves to make her suffer for slightest repercussion, while the western fandom loves to [[{{Flanderization}} makes her dumber]] than she already is. Becomes even more once her voice actress and ImageSong revealed, faithfully portraying her callousness in the most cutesy and insufferable way known to men, cementing her status as the fandom's next punching bag for years to come.
56* MemeticMolester:
57** Atsumi is often portrayed as a groper who lunges towards any female idol's breast at any time given.
58** There are a lot of fanworks that portray Rin as being a stalker to the anime version of the Producer, sometimes even sniffing his clothes. See {{Fanon}} in the Anime section below.
59** Combined with the episode with Miria and the fact that Mika's voice actress is a self-proclaimed lolicon, Mika herself has received a reputation as a lolicon herself. She became more of a memetic molester thanks to her song, NUDIE, which is very sexual being release on the same album that features the Little Marching Band Girls.[[note]]LMBG is a unit compose of the much younger idols.[[/note]]
60** [[InVinoVeritas Drunk!Kaede]] is seen by the fanbase often harassing and even molesting fellow idols and even her producers, specifically the anime's/Takeuchi-P. In erotic fanarts and doujins involving her, expect to see her being the one instigating the scene.
61* MemeticMutation:
62** BE MY BABY [[labelnote:explanation]]Nana and Shin are often associated with the 1989 song "BE MY BABY" by Complex, all thanks to [[https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm28073785 this weird video]] which depicts both members of the band in the music video overlaid with respective faces of [=SugarMin=] members (Shin for Tomoyasu Hotei, Nana for Koji Kikkawa). [[/labelnote]]
63*** *Both faces thrown away* A~HUHUN
64** ちゃんみおっぱい [[labelnote:explanation]]Romanized as "Chan-'''Mi-o'''ppai", this was tagged by fan artists who often drew Mio as a (sometimes overly) buxom girl, though several of her [[https://www.project-imas.com/w/images/2/2d/Miosuperplus.jpg official artwork]] has them.[[/labelnote]]
65** #おっぱい大成功高校生美玲ちゃん [[labelnote:explanation]]Translated as "Successful Busty High Schooler Mirei", this Twitter hashtag is often used on the artist's drawing of a grown-up Mirei as a high schooler...but with a bustier figure. [[/labelnote]]
66** "This is a message from Snake... I'm here to remind everyone to vote for Natalia for this year's Cinderella election. Huh, she's pretty good. Snake out." [[labelnote:explanation]] [[https://twitter.com/PepsiJohnny/status/1120134628868644864 A Cameo commission]] from an overseas [=NataliaP=] for Creator/DavidHayter, the original English voice actor for Solid Snake, to tell people to vote for Natalia in the 8th election lead to an outpouring of support from Japanese Metal Gear fans and Metal Gear related fanart and memes of Natalia. The original video on Twitter was taken down, but then [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz3Cq1zmBwc here's another overseas [=NataliaP=] edit]] for the commisioned line, in the style of VideoGame/MetalGearSolid's codec calls. [[/labelnote]]
67*** "Let's do it for Natalia! Campbell out." [[labelnote:explanation]] The same [=NataliaPs=] mentioned above did the same for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2Azehk7z3I Colonel Campbell]]'s voice actor, Creator/PaulEiding, right after the preeliminary results for the 8th election, in which Natalia placed 9th in overall ranking and 3rd in Passion ranking. [[/labelnote]]
68*** "Hey, that's Natalia! She's a Brazillian idol that's really talented at belly-dancing!" [[labelnote:explanation]] ... and so did for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2VAb3I4ODE Otacon]]'s voice actor, Christopher Randolph, a week later. [[/labelnote]]
69** Incoming meme votes.[[labelnote:explanation]]The fanbase seems to be so interested on voting towards a character that for some reason has a currently memetic presence in the net or something to do with [[GoroawaseNumber Goroawase Numbers]], to the point of that voting gauntlet is often lopsided towards x character's favor, resulting them be able to climb to either top 10 or winning the election entirely. Combined with the fact that most of the highly voted idols (or even the ones who won) will suddenly drop ranks to even UNRANKED (not reaching the top 50) gives the impression that most of these idol voters were only voting said idol for the meme. Once said idol finally got into the top 10 or even won the election, they will no longer be voted by it's "fans" and left to obscurity. Nana (won the [=7th=] election because of her name can also means the number "seven") and Syuko (Won the [=4th=] election because of her losing her previous poll against Arisu in the Anniversary Voice Idol election) were the well-known examples of this.[[/labelnote]]
70** Mio Honda's Step! Music [=Video/Mio Honda Fried Chicken Video=].[[labelnote:Explanation]]A [[https://twitter.com/hemoglosso/status/1119931723897114624 video animation tweet]] of Mio Honda dancing in the chorus of "Step!" (nicknamed "Mio Honda Fried Chicken Video" because of the word fried chicken shown by the second half of the video) was created by twitter user @hemoglosso during the heat of the second cour of the 2019 Cinderella Girls Yearly Election, supporting Mio. The video was reuploaded to [=iFunny.com=] by the user [=TazMazy=] and then was constantly republished by their spare account [=LinusTechTipsFanPage=] (named after WebVideo/LinusTechTips) to the point of spam. Starting approximately on October 10th, 2019, multiple [=iFunny=] users posted memes featuring the character, with other users posting memes expressing frustration with the post repeatedly appearing in their feeds, often associating her as an unstoppable empress who bends people's will by spamming promotional videos. Becomes eerily coincidental as she was just crowned as the eight Cinderella Girl. Later on February 2020, [=YouTube=] user [=AutisticYui=] cropped animation frames from the fried chicken video to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdeE7ItDDbQ depict]] Mio running through ''VideoGame/{{Team Fortress 2}}''[='=]s [=2fort=], spawning a surge of similar video edits in Western internet corners of Mio marching in various situations [[SoundtrackDissonance while "Step!" blares in the background]], with certain war scene edits making [=YouTube=] commentators brand her as a dangerous war criminal. That surge led @hemoglosso to suffer a CreatorBacklash by the end of March 2020 over their animation being spread and repurposed far beyond their authorship and its original intent as a Cinderella Girl Election campaign by Western meme culture into BlackComedy videos (see MemeticBadass and MemeticPsychopath above).[[/labelnote]]
71*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ayWZ4mmxuw need Tomboy]].[[labelnote:Explanation]]Related to the fried chicken video above, the Mio Honda fried chicken video played behind a captcha re-enacting the same word played over a wojak struggling in frustration. Associating Mio as being a tomboy has become a common occurrence within the fandom, even though she's more of a GenkiGirl than an outright tomboy herself[[/labelnote]]
72** [[https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm36210300 Taberungo no Uta]][[labelnote:Explanation]]A song featuring Akari Tsujino which became incredibly popular with video makers on Nico Nico Douga despite being very simplistic. The resulting surge in Akari's popularity led to her winning the Voice Audition later that year.[[/labelnote]]
73** "Hey you … Yeah you Queen … You’re gonna make it!" [[labelnote:Explanation]] A macro image of Sachiko Koshimizu saying "Hey you, yeah you king. You're gonna make it!" starts gaining a massive popularity thanks to Elon Musk [[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1349129669258448897 tweeting the image]] on his feed. [[https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/bandai-namco-stock-price-gains-elon-musk-meme-tweet-japanese-2021-1-1029964950 So much so that the stock numbers for Bandai Namco (Holdings) increases by 4%]] because of it.[[/labelnote]]
74* MemeticPsychopath: Mio Honda yearns for a following and will eradicate anyone who is not on her side or simply is on her walking path, whether it be the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdeE7ItDDbQ BLU Team]] from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V81UYzRnMYc Jerma]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AvY_EnKGyk the Zone]] in ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifxuu1465v4 the Soviets]], you name it, no one is safe, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uTgAhLaNkk not even]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyA2uY1CfH8 yourself]].
75* SelfFanservice: Some of the characters is this, notably Mio (as mentioned in the MemeticMutation above), Mayu, Miku, Ranko, and even Fumika.
76** In a more recent case, Riamu Yumemi is the latest addition of this after her reveal. It helps that she measures her bust as "big". Despite a line revealing her actual measurement (in the respectable 80s), fanartists tend to draw her closer to Mukai (95cm) or Shizuku's (105cm) size.
77* {{Shipping}}: With over 190 idols you can choose from, plus the staff and characters that are introduced in the anime, not counting the many producers from extra materials, this is bound to happen.
78** Averted with Idol and [[PlayerCharacter Producer]], as it is self-insert nature alone, it cannot be counted as a ship. However some fan artist likes to create an original producer not based on any self-insert material and paired them with an idol they're designated with.
79** Character specific ships;
80*** Due to her [[MsFanservice sultry]] and indiscriminate nature, Kanade seems to be paired just by almost anyone by the fandom, with the candidates came from units she was in (like Syuko, Mika, Fumika, Kaede, Minami, and recently Karen among many others) or just plain random. Some even calls her Shipping Fodder for this.
81*** Kaede is much more reserved and is shipped strictly with Mizuki, the other [[TheTeam Yoi Otome]] member Miyu, and recently Kanade. She's also one of the more prominent pairing for Takeuchi-P besides Rin due to being on the similar age range.
82*** It looks like Shiki is going to pave her way to as many unfortunate victims (potential pairings) as possible in canon, with some of the teases like with Frederica and Asuka [[AscendedFanon receiving duet songs]] (Crazy Crazy and Babel respectively) that explores each character's personality and relationship with each other. It doesn't help that her curious and no-sense-of-privacy personality quirk does allow her to be dynamic in every pairing scenario imaginable. It's up to Bamco whether they're going to at least give a nod or outright ascended it into canon to other potential tease like Minami or other [=LiPSS=] personnel above.
83*** On the younger side of the spectrum, Haru also receives a lot of pairing candidates from the [=U149=] Manga, with Risa and Chie being the most prominent.
84** From the anime;
85*** Upon their first appearance in the anime, pairing of Producer x Rin explodes. See FanPreferredCouple in the anime tropes section below.
86*** Producer/Kirari is somewhat popular as well, considering the Producer is taller than Kirari, which helps to overcome her insecurities with her height.
87*** Rin ''also'' gets paired with Uzuki, due to how the latter was the one who caused the final push for her to join the Cinderella Project. How this doesn't lead to a OneTrueThreesome situation for the fandom, with Rin in the center of it all, is a mystery for the ages.
88*** Rin being noticeably more affectionate towards Uzuki compared to the other girls[[note]] There is a ''huge'' disparity between how she acts towards Uzuki and how she acts towards Mio, with Rin being gentler towards the former while being deadpan with the latter; she even ignored her once while she was speaking to her to direct her attention to Uzuki. Listen to the ''Dekitate Evo! Revo!'' drama CD as an example. [[/note]] probably helped fuel this, though people have already been shipping them since episode 1. Rin [[HoldingHands tightly holding on to Uzuki's hand]] in NO MAKE 24 even after the fans chasing them were gone brought it up to [[LesYay another level]]. Rin didn't even notice that she was still unconsciously holding on to her hand until Uzuki told her so!
89*** Due to a few scenes in Episode 23 and 24 where the Producer and Uzuki are alone, their being paired together as well as Rin's jealousy over them has become fodder for fan material. Some depict Rin's senses somehow picking up on the Producer and Uzuki all alone despite being back at the 346 Productions, or Uzuki deliberately misrepresenting an inspirational moment with the Producer as an intimate one, all the while the Producer is begging her to clarify the misunderstanding as Rin holds him in a death grip.
90*** Following episode 17, Mika/Miria started growing in popularity.
91*** Thanks to episode 22, the Arisu/Fumika pairing goes up and high after [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Arisu comforted her during her collapse and allows her to call her by first-name basis]], even if they are minor characters in the anime. They would go together appearing in Starlight Stage events such as Seizon Honnou Valkyria and Saite Jewel, adding further heights to the pairing.
92*** Because of the Big and Small girl dynamics, Anzu x Kirari pairing is bound to happen, with them receiving a nod in the form of a scene in the anime. They even got themselves a unit ([=HappyHappyTwin=]) and a song in Starlight Stage for that.
93*** Speaking of the ship that got acknowledged by the higher-ups and has received a nod for that in the anime, Miku x Riina pairing has pretty huge following thanks to their [[VitriolicBestBuds opposing dynamics that supports each other]]. They even got an anime exclusive song written by their voice actress as shown in the Awesome Music above.
94*** Minami and Anya is probably one of the most popular yuri pairings second to Rin x Uzuki especially in the anime thanks to the fact that they are already pretty close and has been assigned in a unit and receives their own duet song (LOVE LAIKA and Pure White Memories respectively) to the point of almost LesYay by some. So much that apparently few shippers have shown disapproval when Anya leaves the CINDERELLA PROJECT to (temporarily) work with Project Krone, with [=/u/=] being vocal for this.
95*** While minor, since her introduction and frequent clashes with the Producer, fans have also taken to shipping Mishiro with him.
96** Pairings based on Starlight Stage;
97*** Many fans noticed that Mika is recently assigned with Miho often on events like shabon song and Twintail no Kaze, with them getting closer on each event they're involved, especially in their card illustrations.
98*** While shippers already got their nod on Ranko/Asuka (Dark Illuminate) ship from the original Mobage, it's not until the start of the Souyoku no Aria event where fans starts to pair them more often.
99*** Hagoromo Komachi (Syuko/Sae) gets this treatment too, with their own event song getting released and Hagoromo fans do what the Dark Illuminate fans do.
100*** Generally speaking, any duo units originally from Mobage such as ROCK THE BEAT (Riina/Natsuki), [=HappyHappyTwin=] (Anzu/Kirari), and Familia Twin (Mika/Rika) getting their own events are the peak moments for fans to pair the duo of the respective units.
101*** The Momoka/Arisu pairing started to become more apparent, thanks to the Near to You event commu, which explores the duo becoming rivals and soon friends in span of 4 episodes. Arisu's unawakened Near to You SR card depicts her and Momoka share drinks together. Watch as these two 12-year-olds become [[ThoseTwoGuys those two girls]], both appearing in Nina's main commu episode and the epilogue of the Illusionista! event. Moreover, the two have been officially featured in a Mobage unit (and given the duo a unit name, [=MomoBerry=] [[note]]which is actually a subunit of the tricolor unit [=MomoPearBerry=] along with the passion rep Risa Matoba[[/note]]), almost one year after the pairing's inception in the Near to You event. Even if [=MomoBerry=]'s official appearance as a Rival Unit in Mobage events is only once, either these two are often appear together in other units such as [=MomoPearBerry=] and songs such as Do-Re-Mi-Factory! (with Chie, Haru, and Kaoru) and Ikenai GO AHEAD (alongside Tomoe).
102*** While they're already close since their inclusion, the duo trouble Frederica and Shiki finally get themselves an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_k-Tcsvtzg equally as bizarre event]] that fleshes out their relationship.
103*** The "Pretty Liar" event gives us Kanade x Kaede, in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=209WKbbLlXo surprisingly well written]] event. Fans were intrigued, since they're hardly ever met outside of event cameos.
104*** The "Secret Daybreak" music video featuring Minami and Kanade (again) no longer gives a damn about subtlety with their [[YuriGenre yuri undertones]] that it looks like it was deliberately made to [[PanderingToTheBase pandering to the yuri crowd]]. It's also stated that both girls ended up dating by the end of the story event, fueling the ship further.
105*** Since the fandom tends to pair them together due to their [[OppositesAttract dynamics]], both [[UnluckyEverydude Hotaru]] and Kako get their own event song "Shiawase no Rule".
106*** During "Sun High Gold!" event commu, when Riamu glomped on Karen and called her "mama" as a joke, much to Karen dissatisfaction. Fans start shipping them together despite being obviously one-sided and [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight it only happened during that moment and that moment only]].
107*** Though rarely interacted with each other, fans have started shipping Karen and Chitose together due to their sickly background and [[CommonalityConnection fondness towards unhealthy fast food (especially french fries)]].
108** Units with more than 2 characters are also a shipping fuel itself.
109*** The entirety of [=U149=] manga series is choke-full of this, expanding much more of popular kid idol pairings like Haru x Risa (Beat Shooter), Momoka x Arisu ([=MomoBerry=]), and many more. The same goes to the LMBG (Little Marching Band Girls) unit.
110*** [=LiPPS=] can be summarized as Mika's Harem (Kanade, Shiki, Fred, Syuko) or the other way around. Most fan artists tends to make the entire gang to bully Mika for many reasons.
111*** Triad Primus pits Rin, Nao, and Karen in the same ship, with Karen and Nao being prominent ones.
112*** The same thing goes for PCS (Kyoko, Miho, Uzuki) and Positive Passion (Aiko, Akane, Mio).
113*** The new wave of characters introduced in the original mobage in 2018 (Akari, Akira, and Riamu) were immediately shipped together. Fans make an unofficial unit simply known as [=#LookingForAUnitName=].
114** The extra material also features pairings as well. Most of the well-known ship also came from the extra material (such as the Gekijou short or the radio showcast).
115*** Episode 4 of Shiny Numbers radio web series featuring Rin and Nono was released to promote both idols' top 10 position in the game's 5th anniversary election. Days after the broadcast, the Rin x Nono ship spreads like a wildfire and '''stays''' for years to come. ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czi911GBBM Witness]]''.
116*** Miyu is also often shipped with Nina, usually seen on [[Manga/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirlsTheater Gekijou]] yonkoma. It doesn't help that Miyu is often seen as a big sister, even motherly figure among younger idols. Then the card art of Chie's new limited SSR released...[[note]]In the background, you can see Miyu, wearing the same Kindergarten outfit, playing together with Nina. The fanbase exploded and drawing Miyu on a kindergarten outfit becomes a fad for awhile.[[/note]]
117*** From the MASTERS SEASONS Spring Drama CD, there are Anya x Kyoko.
118*** The newly revealed idols Chitose Kurosaki and Chiyo Shirayuki also gained some attention as a Vampire-and-Servant play.
119[[/folder]]
120
121[[folder:Tropes Present in the Mobile Game]]
122* EnsembleDarkhorse: Theoretically, ''anyone'' can be considered this.
123** The starter idols for each category, Uzuki/Rin/Mio, could be considered this, despite being the face of their categories. Since they are ComMons, one would expect them to be overshadowed easily. Instead, Rin consistently places high in popularity polls, even taking first place in 2014's election, and although it took a while for Uzuki and Mio's popularity to reach Rin's level (Uzuki only won the election in 2016), they still finished at a respectful fourth and fifth place in the same poll. Both Uzuki and Mio's popularity came about from their underdog status.
124** Given that they literally won the yearly election, any of the Cinderella Masters could be considered this, but special note goes to:
125*** Airi Totoki, the InnocentFanserviceGirl and winner of the 2012 election.
126*** Ranko Kanzaki, the ElegantGothicLolita and LargeHam chuunibyou, who won the 2013 election.
127*** Kaede Takagaki, the HardDrinkingPartyGirl and PungeonMaster, a regular high ranker in the elections, jumping from 11th place in 2012 to 3rd in 2013 and 7th in 2014 following the reveal of her drunken personality, and ultimately winning the 2017 election.
128*** Nana Abe, the [[OlderThanTheyLook "eternally]] [[BlatantLies 17"]] "alien" idol, and Chieri Ogata, the ShrinkingViolet with a penchant for collecting [[FourLeafClover Four Leaf Clovers]], took 2nd and 3rd place respectively in the 2014 election. Chieri, like Kaede, consistently places high in all polls, having placed 6th in 2012 and 7th in 2013, and Nana outright won the 2018 election.
129*** Fumika Sagisawa, the [[ShrinkingViolet shy]] {{Bookworm}} idol, ranked 6th in the 2014 election and placed 5th in the 2018 election before eventually winning the 2021 election.
130*** Arisu Tachibana and Syuko Shiomi. Arisu, a logical young idol, won the Voice Idol Audition, a separate poll where the idol in first place would be given a voice and CD. Syuko, a Kyoto-born idol, came in second place, but got her voice after being crowned Cinderella Girl in 2015.
131*** Like Shiki, the resident ill girl [[CharacterDevelopment turned]] {{Determinator}} Karen Hojo managed to consistently getting to the top 10 position in elections, but just like Mio before her, she never got the chance to strike for the win and [[AwardSnub always got her chance stolen by some unexpected entrants]], that is until the 2020 election where she finally snag the first position at the highest amount of vote of 15 million count!
132** Other idols that managed to snag the top 10 of the election include:
133*** Anastasia, the GratuitousRussian idol who didn't even have a voice actress at the time, took 2nd place in the 2013 election.
134*** Sachiko Koshimizu, the [[{{Pride}} Self-Proclaimed]] cutest idol, which was true in 2013 when she was indeed the only Cute idol in the top five. She was 4th place in 2013 and 9th place in 2014.
135*** Shiki Ichinose, the MadScientist idol, who ranked 5th in the 2015 election and ranked 6th in the 2018 election.
136*** Cat Idol Miku Maekawa jumped up a full twenty places from the 2014 poll to 2nd place in 2015. Her CharacterDevelopment in the anime was likely a factor.
137** Other Cinderella Master idols of note include:
138*** The Jougasaki sisters, Mika and Rika. Mika tends to be the more popular sister, since she takes Mio's place as the Passion representative in the radio 4komas.
139*** Anzu Futaba and Kirari Moroboshi, due to their juxtaposition and AscendedFanon pairing.
140*** Nao Kamiya and Karen Hojo, Rin's classmates and friends who are frequently shown together. The two, alongside Rin, would later form the ever-popular Triad Primus unit.
141*** Miho Kohinata, part of the Pink Check School unit with Uzuki and Kyoko, for her [[TheIngenue innocent]] traits and her IdiotHair.
142*** Koume Shirisaka, for her ShrinkingViolet personality.
143*** Mayu Sakuma, for her {{Yandere}} traits.
144*** Syoko Hoshi, for her [[AxCrazy Ax-Craziness]].
145*** Frederica Miyamoto, for her GratuitousFrench and her annoying little piece of humming song.
146*** Kanade Hayami, for her mysterious, yet flirtatious aura.
147*** Momoka Sakurai and Nina Ichihara, the last two idols who appeared in the PV for Onegai! Cinderella and later received their own solo albums, one for her ProperLady [[TheOjou Ojou]] demeanor and one for being a TokenMiniMoe.
148*** Asuka Ninomiya, ThePhilosopher chuunibyou idol. Together with Ranko, a similar chuunibyou idol, she is part of a unit named Dark Illuminate.
149*** Kyoko Igarashi, a [[FeminineWomenCanCook housewife-material]] idol, part of the Pink Check School unit.
150** In an odd subversion, some idols who don't place anywhere in the top 50 still receive voices and [=CDs=], or otherwise given TheCameo in the anime. Examples include:
151*** Chie Sasaki, while fairly popular in doujins, is notable for being the first CG to receive her voice from her cameo in episode 2, instead of a CD. Haruna Kamijo is also voiced along with her in the same scene.
152*** Sae Kobayakawa and Yuko Hori from the sixth batch of releases fall under this category. In the anime, Yuko receives a small cameo in episode 5, while Sae gets both an EarlyBirdCameo and a larger role in episode 9.
153*** While they don't have a song, Shizuku Oikawa and Kurumi Ohnuma deserve mention for TWO BIG reasons. So far, Shizuku has received the most cameos, appearing in episodes 2 and 9, and being voiced in episode 5. Sanae Katagiri also joins her, being voiced in the same scene in episode 5.
154** Some winners of the Election but haven't received their own Cinderella Master albums include:
155*** Takumi Mukai, a buxom Sukeban gang-turned-idol, who placed 3rd in the Passion category for the 2015 election. It doesn't help that she has her own spin-off manga.
156*** Kako Takufuji, a New Year festival-themed idol, is a big example. She jumped from UNRANKED in prelims to rank 4 in the final rankings, even exceeding Hikaru Nanjo, who's been a Passion solid contender since the prelims. It must have something to do with her Limited SSR card.
157** The three new idols that's introduced during the latter half of 2018 managed to captivate the fanbase's hearts in only a few months they were announced and added to the game, and as such, they start raking in popularity in the following year.
158*** Riamu Yumemi is probably the most popular out of the three, thanks to her flashy [[MsFanservice design reveal]] and her [[TakeThat character]] and [[StrawFan personality]], she managed to captivate the fanbase in an instant. In the latest election batch, she has the highest vote of the unvoiced idol with only being rivaled by Yukimi, Kozue, and Natalia, and is currently at the 3rd place in the first batch overall, and she's been on a high ranking ever since, receiving her second limited SSR in the game as for now, a feat that some voiced idols still haven't be able to achieve in a yearly timespan.
159*** The second most popular out of the three is Akira Sunazuka, the GamerChick that's attending the same school as Rin, Karen, and Nao. While she doesn't become highly popular in an instant like Riamu does, she managed to slowly accumulate strong fan following ever since she was introduced, and she finally got the second place on the 2020 voice election.
160*** Though not the most popular out of the three, Akari Tsujino suddenly managed to secure the first place in 2020 voice election along with Akira, getting the same voice along with her. She's also unintentionally bringing another EnsembleDarkhorse to the table; "Ringorou", her family apple farm mascot gains a strong following that it's now welcomed by the franchise as one of the game's mascot alongside the other Pinya Korata variants.
161* {{Fanon}}: Many fans consider Clarice from the Cinderella Girls series to be blind because all of her cards have her with her eyes closed.
162** Most of the girls' backstories and personalities are suggested by fandom, actually. An example of this is big sister-like Minami Nitta gaining a more "mature" (as in R-rated mature) sense of humor, and a slew of bad habits.
163* HarsherInHindsight: The three Korea-exclusive characters (Yujin, Juney, and Haena) are often ignored by the fanbase due to the shutdown of the Korean version of the game, and they've made no appearances in CG canon since. Guess [[Series/TheIdolmasterKR which entry]] of the franchise was also ignored during the 15th anniversary festivities?
164* JerkassWoobie: Tokiko Zaizen. Her misandristic behavior stems from the fact that she suffered from repeated bad relationships and has a guarded view of other women because she has been a RomanticRunnerUp once.
165* JunkRare: Some of the ''Cinderella Girls'' idols:
166** Yao Fuei Fuei's base card is notoriously common, and due to its extremely low stats, cost and lack of a Skill, is good for little more than vendor junk. [[FanNickname Fans have taken]] to referring to a Fuei Fuei draw as FFDY (Fuei Fuei da yo~/It's Fuei Fuei).
167* UglyCute: Pinya Korata (Pinya for short), a weird giant green cat-like mascot. Originally a shtick for ballet-loving idol Honoka Ayase, this particular creature slowly turns into a representative mascot for Cinderella Girls as a whole.
168** There are variants of the Pinya, one is a normal green variant, another is a sexier pink one, and then there's a black Pinya who is much more wicked and manlier than others.
169[[/folder]]
170
171[[folder:Tropes Present In The Anime]]
172* {{Adorkable}}: The Producer was already awkward at the start of the anime, but he manages to be even more Adorkable by Episode 8, when the idols asked him at the end of the previous episode to try speaking more casually. As a result, he spends much of the episode fumbling over his words and constantly correcting his overly formal speech.
173* AmericansHateTingle: Mishiro is disliked by the Western fans of the anime.
174* AudienceColoringAdaptation: Because of Mio's actions in Episode 6, 7 and 20, she is often seen as the DesignatedHero by some of the fandom (especially from fans that are introduced to the franchise through the anime) and they mostly assume that she had the same portrayal like that in other media, despite it's just a case of AdaptationalJerkass.
175* BaseBreakingCharacter
176** [[DesignatedHero Mio Honda]] became a big one after her [[FelonyMisdemeanor actions]] in Episode 6. Her actions caused her to seen as sensitive crybaby that is very naive to how the industry works at best or a spoiled brat who can't take criticism and failure at worst.
177** Mishiro is viewed as this following her introduction for the purpose of giving the anime an antagonist. On the one hand, some fans find her to be an improvement over Kuroi, whose actions to ruin Takagi and his idols were solely driven by a ForTheEvulz mentality. On the other hand, other fans think that she is an unnecessary addition to the anime and is simply there to initiate drama they view as forced and contrived, evidenced by her culpability in breaking up Cinderella Project units for her own ends.
178*** In contrast, Mishiro is not straight up villainous for the sake of it, and her motivations are simply driven by what she feels is the best direction to take 346 Production, affording her a sense of realism. Such fans point to the fact that she is willing to give the Producer a chance to prove his point as evidence of this. Also, even if the Producer wins his wager against her, she doesn't view it as a lost on her part either, as the company still profits.
179*** Detractors of her also believe that her single-minded obsession with profit and myopia regarding the bonds between idols, fans, and Producers is DramaticallyMissingThePoint in even running such a company to begin with, showing a shocking lack of proper business sense for someone in her position, especially since the company was doing very well prior to her arrival. She has also gained the derision of such fans for scouting Rin and Anastasia for Project Krone, as well as her attempts to fire Uzuki, as they view such moves on her part as [[KickTheDog a violation of her agreement to let the Producer do as he wishes to prove his point]]. Those actions makes her a [[{{Sadist}} Sadistic]] boss who [[KarmaHoudini gets away with it]].
180** If there is a character that managed to get even with Mishiro in breaking the fandom in pieces, then don't look any further than Rin. While her [[spoiler:leaving the Cinderella Project to work with Mishiro and eventually allow her friends to finally get their debut on Triad Primus]] is still tolerable even through the most vocal of detractors, everything else that precedes and succeeds it, including where she admittedly teases off her departure to the currently depressed Uzuki rub the fandom in the wrong way, with the most vocal detractors seeing it as a dick move. Her pulling out affecting Uzuki's mood and not checking in on her further divided her fans, with detractors seeing it as nothing more than Rin telling her to stop dilly-dallying with her problem because it bothers her, ignoring the fact that Rin sees Uzuki as her inspiration and the reason she became an Idol in the first place, and seeing her in the current condition upsets her.
181** Downplayed with Anya and her decision to [[spoiler:temporarily join Project Krone in episode 20]], since unlike Rin, she does it in a less selfish fashion and simply just wants to challenge herself to work in a different environment and group. Some fans find it unnecessary and shortsighted for her part as their problem with Project Krone wasn't enough, while others didn't mind the decision, since it does help Anya's development and gives the audience a better perception of what she can do. Also unlike Rin, a few characters do support her decision, including Minami.
182** To wit, Project Krone as a whole. Outside of the notable few (Fumika, Arisu, Kanade, [[spoiler:both Rin and Anya that Mishiro convinced to defect]]) doesn't serve much of a role outside of being a [[PlotCoupon vehicle for Mishiro to deliver her views and engage against the main cast that opposes her strictly formula]]. Some fans wished that they should've been introduced as early as the beginning as some sort of a rival or even a pedestal for Cinderella Project aspire and surpass to.
183* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The first four minutes of episode 26 opens with disjointed scenes from a feudal samurai-esque movie, with all the actors being the Cinderella idols. A few idols are even "killed off" in the fight scenes.
184* BrokenBase:
185** Episode 6. Mio crying out that she will quit being an idol, and running off, caused quite a stir in the fandom, and not necessarily in a positive way. On one side, people find it more acceptable due to her being a teenaged girl who got a taste of glory a bit too early. On the other side, people are far more critical of Mio's [[FelonyMisdemeanor action]], calling it distinctly unprofessional behavior that not only was a big betrayal to the efforts of all the other people that made it possible, such as Producer and Mika, it also jeopardized the entire Cinderella Project and hope for debut for other idols, as seen in Episode 7. Thankfully, things calmed down a lot after Episode 7, but among the fandom, do expect some heated argument whenever Episode 6 is brought up.
186** Episode 20 has led to another split in the fandom, particularly with the actions of Mio becoming a solo artist and Rin joining Triad Primus. One side faults Mio for becoming a solo artist without consulting Uzuki and Rin, and labels her as selfish for not being supportive of Rin wanting to branch out and test new waters by joining Triad Primus, despite her assurances that she would continue to be a part of New Generations. Mio running off just like she did in Episode 6 has also brought about sentiments that [[AesopAmnesia she has not truly matured and developed from her past experience]]. On the other hand, another faction finds Rin to be more culpable in causing the drama, as she made the decision to join Triad Primus without informing Uzuki and Mio, implying a lack of respect on her part, for their opinions and feelings, given Mio's EtTuBrute reaction to Rin's announcement. Rin is also derided as being irresponsible, as her actions, especially in the face of the Cinderella Project facing disbandment by Mishiro, could potentially endanger said project. Dividing her attention between two units would likely lead to Rin under-performing with New Generations, thus encouraging Mishiro to dissolve the Cinderella Project and threaten the careers of her fellow idols, with Rin's own career being insulated because of her membership in a unit sanctioned by Mishiro. There is also the fact that Rin joined Project Krone even after Mishiro insulted Uzuki and Mio, adding fuel to the idea that Rin [[WithFriendsLikeThese did not value her friends]], else she would have defended them and/or turned down Mishiro's offer. This faction of the fandom also defends Mio's actions as her trying to salvage her career, as Rin's actions may lead to the collapse of New Generations, and waste the effort expended by Uzuki and Mio to get to where they are at present. Nonetheless, both groups agree that [[DesignatedHero both idols]] are selfish for [[FelonyMisdemeanor leaving Uzuki in the dust with their actions.]]
187** However, Rin ''did'' inform Uzuki and Mio about her decision, albeit after tentatively opting, but not outright deciding, to join Triad Primus after her experience of singing with Nao and Karen. At the same time, Rin wanted to know if they were okay with it, implying that she would have declined if ''they'' weren't so long as they told her. On the point of Rin [[WithFriendsLikeThese not valuing her friends]], some believe that her reactions after she consulted them, her attempts to apologize to Mio, and her efforts during Uzuki's arc contradict that notion, though detractors instead suggest that Rin's actions [[BuyThemOff were less than genuine and more aimed towards clearing her own conscious by throwing Uzuki a bone after realizing what she had done]]. Such detractors point out Rin's inability meet or even talk to Uzuki at the end of Episode 22, due to Triad Primus obligations, which rubbed them the wrong way since it seemed as though [[DesignatedHero Rin]] [[WithFriendsLikeThese couldn't even afford to carve out 5 minutes for a friend, and one that helped her rise to fame, no less]].
188** Come Episode 21, although the three idols have apparently made up, some fans note that the underlying issues brought up in Episode 20, namely pursuing other interests while not devoting full effort to their unit and jeopardizing the integrity of the Cinderella Project by either not participating in Episode 22's concert or participating as part of the rival Project Krone, still remain unresolved, more so given that New Generations appears to have been put on hiatus for said concert. While these fans do note that such a development does add a touch of realism, [[CluelessAesop they also maintain that to split up a unit runs antithetical to the ideals of unity that both the original Idolm@ster anime and this anime have been preaching to date]].
189** The end of Episode 22 confirms that all of the above mentioned issues that split up New Generations ''have impacted'' Uzuki greatly, as she dropped StepfordSmiler hints during that episode, as well as the previous three episodes, to the point where her work is affected, leading to the Producer dismissing her early and telling her to go home.
190** While she has garnered her fair share of detractors in Episode 20, as seen above, said detractors gained an even more intense dislike of Rin in Episode 23 due to the "unbelievably" confrontational manner in which she spoke to Uzuki when the latter expressed reluctance to participate in the Winter Ball. This made it seem like Uzuki was responsible for causing the break-up of New Generations, and by extension, everyone else in the Cinderella Project getting depressed. These viewers see Rin's actions as hypocritical, especially since Rin appeared to be playing the victim when she confronted Uzuki (and apparently blamed her for giving a "fake smile" when Rin was mulling over whether or not to join Triad Primus). The hypocrisy comes due to the fact that it was Rin's decision to join Triad Primus that caused all the ensuing problems in the first place. On the other hand, another sector of viewers praised Rin for holding herself responsible for Uzuki's emotional problems and wanting to go and talk to her. Granted she also wanted to do the same with Mio in Episode 7, but the Producer refused to let her do so.
191** However, there is still Nao and Karen's involvement in the conflict itself to consider. Should Rin opt to refuse Mishiro's offer to join Triad Primus, Nao and Karen's debut would've been delayed ''again'' and Rin would be culpable for denying them both the chance to shine on stage with her like they've always wanted to (look at her flinch when she heard they were chosen to make up the unit with her). [[MortonsFork Regardless of which group she'd choose in the end, Rin would still inevitably end up being the "selfish one" for being the center of the mess Mishiro put her in]].
192** It's a tangled mess of issues largely to do with [[FatalFlaw communication]]. It never takes center stage but the members of New Generations [[PoorCommunicationKills don't communicate with each other very well]] [[{{Hypocrite}} despite their image as a tight-knit unit]] who are friends with one another. In Episode 7, Mio tries to push everyone away and Uzuki doesn't tell Rin she's sick, which contributes to her own brooding. Though they get over their issues then, they never quite start communicating with each other more. In Episode 20, Rin initially decides she won't accept Mishiro's offer but leaves it hanging. She doesn't tell Uzuki and Mio until after she's tried singing with Nao and Karen, at which point she's agonizing over it. Mio, likewise, leaves the others in the dark about why she's gone solo. In Episode 22, despite going to the photo shoot specifically to visit and check up on Uzuki, Rin ends up never talking to her until later that night. In Episode 23, Uzuki tries to hide her true feelings from the other two, pushing them away much in the same way Mio did previously.
193** The reason Rin is particularly harsh when she and Mio try to talk to her is because she holds Uzuki up as her inspiration to become an idol in the first place. For her, it's heartbreaking to see Uzuki so down and unsure of herself, but also maddening to see her trying to avoid talking about her insecurities. That said, it felt really jarring for the two to [[WithFriendsLikeThese just leave Uzuki in the park after dragging her out and away from her old training school]]. In short Mio & Rin are seen as [[DesignatedHero "good guys"]] & Uzuki as [[DesignatedVillain "bad guy"]].
194** Anya is a lesser example due to her actions in Episode 20. While her decision to join Project Krone are seem less selfish on the surface because she just wanted to challenge herself, it seems entirely unnecessary to do it the way she did. After all, she gained inspiration from Ranko, who desired to conquer her fear of the horror genre. While Mishiro's offer did present a good situation for Anya to challenge herself by working with people she doesn't know and working away from her usual friends, it seems very shortsighted on her part to temporarily abandon the Cinderella Project for those reasons. Ultimately, there's less fallout over her decision with fans because Minami becomes a solo artist and performs with the Cinderella Project.
195* DidntSeeThatComing: Show of hands, who expected Natsuki and Nana of all people to pair up and join Asterisk? Even though they're respectively Riina's and Miku's "mentor" figures, seeing the four of them come together is as odd as it gets.
196* EnsembleDarkhorse: ''The Producer'', something that no one predicted. He pretty much occupied the number one spot in online polls from the start of the airing, and ''stayed there''.
197* FanonDiscontinuity: Some fans would rather pretend that the anime ended after the first season and the second season never existed, owing to the introduction of Mishiro and the ensuing drama she caused. It should be noted, however, that this complaint seems to be largely isolated to English speaking viewers. On the other hand, 2ch LOVES Mishiro, as she adds spice to what would otherwise be just Idol vs. Idol rivalries (which were the only ones available in the game). See BaseBreakingCharacter for more details.
198* FanPreferredCouple: Even though there haven't been any indication of romance in the series proper, pairing of the anime version of the Producer with Rin Shibuya is by now one of the, if not the, most popular pairing in the series and the fanarts of the coupling have exploded since episode 1 and never stopped.
199** Gets played with when other idols like Chieri get close to the Producer, and Rin acts like [[{{Yandere}} Mayu]]. An entire Pixiv tag (荒ぶる凛ちゃん) is devoted to this, with Rin being portrayed as hyper-possessive (but not violent) of the Producer.
200** Amusingly enough, in the June issue of anime magazine, Newtype, Producer and Rin topped the character popularity for male and female character together. [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CEZf46PWgAALhdn.jpg:large The picture arrangement cannot be unintentional.]]
201** It even got a [[FandomNod nod]] in the anime's 26th episode, with Uzuki, Mio, Miku, Riina, and Anya [[spoiler: mistakenly]] thinking that she was making chocolates for him on Valentine's. Cue the happy shippers.
202** Post-airing, Producer/Uzuki became just as, if not more popular than the Producer/Rin ship, mostly because of her developments in the latter half of the show.
203* {{Fanon}}: Already present in the original mobile game, but the anime threw in a few of its own that sort of took off with the existing fandom as well:
204** Rin and the Producer: See FanPreferredCouple for most of it. Of course, official supplementary material, like the radio dramas, drama [=CDs=], and even the anime's NO MAKE shorts, point that the Producer isn't even a factor in Rin sticking around in the Cinderella Project at all, but that's never stopped a good ship before...
205** The identities of the three Cinderellas that "got away", which is an important part of the Producer's backstory: Popular consensus points to Kaede and Mika being part of this, as idols who found fame once their management was no longer the Producer's responsibility, but fanartists seems to disagree about the identity of the final idol (who should represent the "Cute" type).
206** It is popular for fanartists to portray Anastasia and Minami living together, either in their own apartment or as roomates at the 346 dorm (which gives them an excuse to interact with Ranko, who is the "unofficial" third member of Love Laika). This flies in the face of the fact that Minami ''doesn't'' stay at the company dorm, and still stays with her family at their home.
207* HilariousInHindsight:
208** Episode 24, which is the conclusion of Uzuki's character arc, aired on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Smile_Day World Smile Day]].
209** The Producer himself becomes an idol as well-- in the ''VideoGame/PrettyRhythm'' spinoff movie series ''Anime/KingOfPrism'', Creator/ShunsukeTakeuchi plays the teen male idol Alexander Yamato. He has a host of other roles where he needs to sing too (a [[Franchise/{{Tsukipro}} good]] [[VideoGame/LaCordaDOro number]] of [[Anime/HighSchoolStarMusical them]] music based shows like that one)-- and much to everyone's surprise, he does it ''very well''.
210* LesYay: The close relationship between Minami and Anya. In episode 12, Anya held hands of a worry Minami while the two slept in the same room together. And in a omake, the two went on a "date" to the aquarium and held hands most of the time[[note]]The two wanted to spend as much time together since they wouldn't be working together that much[[/note]].
211** Uzuki and Rin too. See Shipping to see most of the why below. Although, there was a notable moment during the second cour, [[spoiler: when Uzuki returns to 346 pro in episode 24 and she was still hesitating thanks to her HeroicBSOD from the previous episode, Rin's sudden emotional declaration of her wanting to perform with Uzuki together again was a little ''too'' over the top even for their relationship as close friends]]. It was as if Rin was attempting to salvage a break-up with her or something.
212* {{Narm}}: The scene where Rin and Mio picking up Uzuki from her old idol school was meant to be tearjerking, but then both of them just leave Uzuki once they were outside, as if they're done with it. It's jarring at best and coldhearted at worst, especially after what they have done to her prior.
213* NeverLiveItDown: Thanks to her actions in episode 6, Mio Honda is known by the fanbase as a selfish crybaby who can't swallow reality, even when none of this ever carried into the games' canon.
214* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Some fans wished that the Project Krone and their fiasco should've been introduced much earlier in the series, since it would gave them more time for development and tension buildup.
215** Similarly, Mishiro also receives the same criticism for only being a straight-up foil for the Producer.
216* VindicatedByHistory: Fans who were disappointed by [=SideM=] trying to play it too safe finds the show is rather interesting on it's own right, portraying the industry in a different, bleaker light through Mishiro's actions.
217** The portrayal of Uzuki's [[CantCatchUp inferiority-induced]] [[HeroicBSOD depression]] receives more attention in the wake of many work-related depression from teenagers, as it becomes more-and-more concerning recently. Fans also likes her characterization here moreso than the ones from the games.
218[[/folder]]
219
220[[folder:Tropes Present in ''Starlight Stage'']]
221* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: The Card Arts were always been a staple in the franchise, but the SSR cards and new SR event cards cranks it up to eleven.
222* AuthorsSavingThrow:
223** Complains regarding stamina management after the 100 recharge limit change were addressed by making the stamina recharges faster. Recharging stamina is also cheaper as it only cost you 5 Star Jewels to recharge 10 stamina points, although some players would still contested that. The LIVE Stamina cost reduction mastery also helps out a lot.
224** Bamco took quite some time off to test out the previous, highly risky and a lot of times just not worth it earlier version of Concentration cards. After the unanimous backlash from the community, the Concentration skill card was reworked to what it is now, being more welcomed by the playerbase as a good team filler. The addition of Alternate cards further increases the card's importance in meta, as their percentage bonus is higher than Overload and will be boosted further by it, turning it into a must-go card for Alternate-focused builds.
225** The community were not pleased with the inclusion of Type Princess cards dominated the metagame during the 2017-2018 period, thanks on how powerful and consistent it was compared to other cards back then. It doesn't help that Bamco trying to push the metagame by making a lot of Type Princess cards as limited time gacha cards in almost every limited draw pool available during that time period sans Cinfes, the other being Life Sparkle. In response of the backlash, the less restrictive Type Brilliance card was buffed from 30% to 40% to allow players who doesn't have Princess card to catch up. Moreover, more cards with higher reward but bigger restriction were introduced (like Type Ensemble, Type Crossover and Resonant Appeal) and the frequency of Type Princess card were greatly lessened and the card were given Altenate skill, a skill that's much less consistent compared to Type Focus cards, while doesn't need to be with cards with the same type to activate.
226** With the backlash from the "LIVE Infinity" being stupidly grindy even for Starlight Stage standards, Bamco introduces the LIVE Infinity Producer Mastery in the Producer Mastery Points section where filling them all (approx. 8000 points needed) will effectively double the amount you progress per LIVE. They also award players with limited one time Producer Mastery Reset that allows you reset all the points you have allocated so you can quickly allocate them for the needed LIVE Infinity support masteries, which normally require you to spend 1000 paid Star Jewels for each reset.
227* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Expect to use only one idol color type, even on Rainbow colour songs. This is because most of the supporting idol only gives their effect to one idol type (moreso if the supporting idol has Type Focus cards), until cards that has Tricolor center skills (like Skill Boost) and/or cards with Tricolor Synergy skills are introduced and let people have bloodbath with varied unit types, but they all limited.
228** The Type Princess cards (or the Type Focus cards) floods the center support idol list thanks to their one-trick pony versatility that simply increases all idol appeals by 50 percent as long as there is only the same type idols in the team, which you most likely would build upon as they were very easy to build on, and you don't even need to have them in the first place, just get a friend who uses it as their support center cards as their widespread effect were just too good.
229** To an extent, Life Sparkle is been seen a lot in many team composition by just how good they were after the Overheal update kicks in, as their score combo multiplier increases the more health you have.
230** For budget players, expect to see Type Brilliance card. It's buffed sometime ago during the introduction of the Tricolor Synergy so that it grants 40% bonus to all appeal for 1 idol type instead of the 30% it used to be, which is pretty good considering that now it's only 10% less powerful compared to Type Princess cards, who has restriction for both of their card skill and center skill. Type Brilliance card is also common with unlimited SSR cards like Score Boosts card and Perfect Lock cards, which were simple but practical and can be freely splashed in any team.
231** Combo modifiers will outscale any Score boost bonuses, especially if you can clear a song without breaking any combo or trigger a safety net on the right moment. Even the new Alternate who tried to shake the meta down by making score boost higher at a cost of halved combo bonus will not be as effective as a simple combo bonus, and with the advent of Mutual cards basically being Alternate but for combo chains means that boosting combo chains is a better long-term investment if you want to break through your high score and increase your PRP twofold, and most players simply use Score boosting cards with high modifier like Concentration and Overload to cover up it's downside instead.
232** Cards with shorter skill duration but shorter activation downtime is much more favorable than cards with longer downtime but longer duration because activation downtime are always longer than active duration, and you want to make sure that all of your cards skills active in the same timeframe to churn out as much power as you can from their activation. If a skill is not active during the timeframe when every other skills are active at the time, you won't gain as much power from it, even if the skill duration is longer. This is especially true to Mutual cards, which all of them have fixed duration of 6 to 9 seconds depending on skill level.
233** If you're planning to play a LIVE PARTY match, never ever go without planning with your friends beforehand, or just don't press the quick play button at all. This was alleviated after an update, where the center effect is based on what card did you bring into the play instead of the centerpiece unit.
234** 2019 introduces the playerbase with Producer Mastery Points, which basically boost certain attributes in the game from idol fan gains to the amount of item you get from business trips. After the introduction of "LIVE Infinity" and the corresponding Producer Mastery, many players would maximize everything related to LIVE Infinity to churn out as many progresses as you can and effectively circumvent most of the grind. Other attributes you want to allocate to is type fan gains, LIVE stamina cost reduction, extra event-specific business trips, and extra business trip rewards. You want to allocate as many fan gain as possible so you can quickly allocate 20 idol upgrades to upgrade their skill activation rate and other attributes you need to increase for the team. Stamina cost reduction because spending approx. 15-16 stamina per LIVE (which stacks for AUTO LIVE and Multi-instance LIVE like Token events/Live Carnival/Live Groove) is a must have. Extra event-specific business trips and business trips extra rewards because you can farm more event tokens/PARADE boosters or event progression more from event-specific business trips. The rest can be ignored because they're either too expensive or not worth picking up for the price.
235* DemonicSpiders: Flick Chains are this with the majority of the players, especially the ones that still doesn't know how it works[[note]]All you need to do is just to swipe the flick on the designated direction. You don't need to hold your finger to the line.[[/note]]. It's no surprise that most of the tracks that utilize Flick Chains out the wazoo are ThatOneLevel[=s=].
236** EarlyInstallmentWeirdness aside, asymmetrical couple of notes with different tempo beat and placing [[labelnote:explanation]]The first beat appears in the same position following the rhyme beat, while the second beat follows the other beat and placed much differently to follow another beat (usually the song)[[/labelnote]] is often regarded as rather annoying gimmicks for some, even pros. The catch is that while your first finger has to follow other beat that's running in the background, the other finger must follow the other beat that's following either the song or the rhyme, which can be disorienting at times, plus the placement between each other ensures that you can't play it with only one hand. MASTER charts like "Nation Blue" suffers in this regard. Frankly enough, the gimmick is rarely seen on any newer charts nowadays.
237** Slide notes. This gimmick only appears in [=MASTER+=] difficulty and sometimes replaces the already frustrating flick notes. Unfortunately, it is also twice as frustrating to manage. Unlike flick chains, the player have to hold and slide the note all the way without any interruption whatsoever or else it'll miss, and since [=MASTER+=] tends to put them together with fast paced taps, prepare to have sore fingers.
238* DifficultySpike:
239** Chiisana Koi no Misshitsu Jiken (Master) is the most notorious for this - if not for that one section in the middle it wouldn't be anywhere near a 27.
240** Twintail no Kaze's Master+ chart turns a straightforward 29 for the most parts into a nightmare that is equivalent to 30s thanks to that one ending with difficult flick patterns.
241* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Certain SSR card's arts has the Idols posing on the stage surrounded by lightsticks. The way the lightstick drawn and positioned makes some player think for something else...
242* EnsembleDarkhorse: Some of the SSR designs were more popular than others, so much that it becomes a priority pick on release and every other consequent reruns. They were also the ones that receive considerable amount of fan arts upon release.
243** Special mention goes to the [[FanservicePack Swim]][[BeachEpisode suit]] SSR, starting from Syuko's "Blue Horizon". It also helps that it is a Focus Card, which is meta-defining. Other mentions like Fumika's "A Page of Sea Breeze" also qualifies.
244** Cards such as Kanade's "End of the Blue" and Miku's "Aventure Chat" were popular thanks for how hot they look on their respective costume.
245** The more simpler and casual SSR designs were also pretty cute and popular among the fanbase, like Airi's "Elegance Plus".
246** Not an SSR card, but [[FunnyBackgroundEvent Miyu in kindergarten smock]] on pre-awakened Chie's "Precocious Little Demon" looks so cute, she overshadowed the card she was included in, resulting in a short boom of fanarts.
247** Out of costumes in the dress shop, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP4KUukyp_o kindergarten smock]] has got by far the biggest amount of admiration among the playerbase. Ironically, Miyu is not eligible for wearing this one. When the Special Select Shop voting gauntlet comes up, many fans voted for the smock so it will be made available to all idols, but to the dissapointment of many, it lost to "Ewig Maiden" by a small margin, forcing the fans to wait until another gauntlet occurs.
248* GameBreakingBug[=/=]GoodBadBugs: Because of the way the game engine handles the physics in this game, if your device can support certain 3-D MV modes but only has the bare minimum of required spec to run it, the jiggle physics on certain model parts will start spasming like crazy in random occasion when there's more than 9 idols (most GRAND Lives like Onegai Cinderella! and [=M@GIC!=]) or having intense special effects when enabling the 3-D Rich version of the MV (Marjoram Therapy, Hero Versus Reinanjo, etc.) though it also reported to have active on regular or lite 3-D MV for lower spec phones. This is why most people disables MV or using 2-D MV during gameplay.
249* GameBreaker: While the game has nothing much to offer in competitive plays other than the LIVE PARTY!! mode (and not anyone really mind about it's competitive aspect anyway) and 'bloodbath' events, some cards and their abilities can ramp more score than any other. If you're looking to break through the leaderboard, these cards are must have.
250** Type Focus cards (which are exclusive to some limited cards) and their then-exclusive Type Princess center skill were pretty meta-defining as they're basically combining both Score and Combo bonus in one card, while boosting your overall appeal by a whooping 50 percent, completely dwarfing the Type Brilliance as an appeal bonus center skill. As long as you only have one type of idol in your team, you don't even need to worry about your scoring. It's such a powerful card skill that the community went on an uproar for quite a while, and players will almost always whale for every subsequent releases. Eventually the flak caught up and even less and less Type Focus/Type Princess cards were released and Type Focus itself got heavily nerfed to the point that their basic counterpart ended up being far stronger, as well as buffing Type Brilliance cards to have 40 percent bonus appeal from their original 30 percent, while the Type Princess center skill was relegated to the more balanced Alternate cards.
251** Any skill/score enhancing cards, whether it be Skill Boost or Type Ensemble, it'll boost the potency and effectiveness of active skills (or only score/combo boosting skills for Type Ensemble) as long as the skill is active. Type Ensemble have a greater benefit of having Type Unison as the center skill, which boost all appeal for that certain idol type by 30% (55% if you're playing the same song type of said idol type) without song type restriction, which is always useful. For Skill Boost, it's possible to make you avoid completely breaking combo if you had a combo-securing SSR cards like Overload or Perfect Lock when Skill Boost is active, since it also allow those cards to apply on MISS taps.
252** In single-typed compositions, the best non-Resonance formula is a Mutual/Alternate core. Both skills copy the best Combo and Score Bonus in the unit, respectively, and massively boost it (and can be increased further by an Ensemble card), in exchange for a Score/Combo penalty. Even better, if both are on the same timer, their penalties are mutually cancelled by their bonuses. However, they need other skills to copy and boost them, so powerful bonuses like Concentration and Combo Bonus SSR are often used alongside the Mutual/Alternate duo. In terms of center skills, the Mutual is preferred (outside of events, where it's the Alternate for its Princess center), as its Duet doubles two stats in the unit as long as both the whole unit and the song are of the same type, and the unit can then be built around these two stats.
253** Life Sparkle is just like Combo Bonus, except the modifier increases based on the player's current health and increases based on the bonus health from the Overheal, and the active duration is also pretty generous. Combine it with healing skill like HP Recovery or All-Round, or the aforementioned Tricolor Synergy, you can get up to 20 percent combo bonus when it activates, the highest you can get the entire game. As such, it's one of the most powerful card you can have on Live Groove events. The current metagame for PRP Maxxing is to use Life Sparkle's center skill that boosts all of the idol's HP by generous amount if they're on the same team, which can be achieved with Cinderella Magic cards described below.
254** Appeal Motif is the Score Bonus belated answer to Combo Bonus' Life Sparkle, as the amount of Score Boost you gain increases based on the team's current prefered appeal based on the card's specific appeal motif skill, it can gain higher bonus than Concentration and Alternate depending on your lineup. While it sounds cool and all, it's center skill, the Resonant Appeal, allows you to stack any skill with the same effect as long as your team being composed of 5 different skill cards and locking you with only one specific appeal throughout the entire song, making it a powerful situational card in Live Groove events and some Live Carnival booth conditions.
255** The newly introduced "Cinderella Magic" skill card that's currently exclusive for Cinfes Noir is the ultimate support card that when it activates, it activates any score or combo bonus skill you have on your party and apply the highest bonus on your team during the duration it activates. It's center skill also apply the best center appeal bonus skill for each idol on your team based on your entire team's center skill (including supporting idols), as long as you met it's criteria to activate it. Best yet, being a Cinfes exclusive means that you can aim to draw for one once per month, significantly increases it's access. It has a tradeoff; it's base stats and growth per level are abysmal and at max level, they will only have measly 600 overall stat, but with what they provided, it's a fair tradeoff.
256** "My Idol" custom cards, [[DifficultButAwesome once fully built at Live Infinity]], can prove to be very powerful in the right compositions. They notably excel in single-typed Magic units, where their Concentration skill, coupled with their huge HP that grants a large Life Sparkle bonus, allow them to defeat the Mutual/Alternate duo in PRP, despite the lower starting appeals.
257** The Tricolor Spike skill, introduced mid 2023, grants higher Score and Combo Bonuses than Tricolor Synergy, but at the expense of health. Thing is, Tricolor Spike also has the Tricolor Unison center skill that boosts all appeals by 40% (80% in Tricolor songs), which practically cancels the penalty of carrying a Magic idol, known for its low stats. A well-built Spike team can rack up tons of points in Tricolor songs, even topping "My Idol" units in most cases.
258** The Dominant card, present in gacha banners since the 8th anniversary, is very tricky to build around, as it practically allows only two types in the unit (instead of either one in monocolor or all three at once in tricolor). First, the Dominant is the only kind of card to have ''two types'' (a main type, the same as for all other cards of the idol, and an extra secondary type). Its center skill massively boosts these two types, but in different appeals (around 150% each, like in Live Groove), forcing the idols to specialize in different stats depending on their type. Its live skill boosts the skills of the same two types, but in different aspects (Score Bonus for the main type, Combo Bonus for the secondary type), once again splitting the idols' skills depending on their type. The catch? The Dominant's live and center skills ''only work in songs of the secondary type'', and main type idols don't get the appeal and skill chance bonuses that secondary type idols have, so its center skill also brings these bonuses back to main type idols so that they catch up with the secondary type idols. At the end, the Dominant, put at the center, needs powerful bonuses from both types (such as Mutual or Alternate) to boost them to sky-high levels.
259** A new strat was found by exploiting SSR Perfect Lock cards with Skill Boost cards. When the Skill Boost card activates on a Perfect Lock card, the effect enhances the Perfect Lock specs not just only to convert any judgement from BAD onwards, but also convert MISS as long as both is active at the same time, which allows you to literally win a LIVE by doing absolutely nothing, or at very least give you a really strong safety net as long as both were active at the same time, especially if you were trying to do a Perfect Run on some of the hardest songs. This strat itself is very useful on the newly added event type "LIVE Infinity" where you can effectively have the benefit of basically playing AUTO LIVE without actually playing AUTO LIVE which doesn't count of progressing the objective. Here's an example of [[https://twitter.com/serebixi/status/1241260639537905671 how powerful the combo was]].
260** Mid 2018, the game introduces the player with a tasks systems, where players can assign idols to perform several tasks akin to the Mobage. Sounds like an excuse not to play the game properly, right? It was overlooked until you realize you can grind quite a lot of Access Points for normal music events using this method, and since it's generally cheaper just to use the feature over grinding the same music over and over again for access points, the tasks turns Access grinding into no-brainer, even though it has daily limitation (some tasks can only be performed twice per day). Bamco nerfed the feature that it's a little more expensive to do than grinding for access points normally, which met with mixed reactions, and it's still doing pretty well.
261*** The producer mastery points update also added extra options that boosts the effectiveness of performing tasks, but only two is worth spending on; extra reward drop and extra task limit. If you're farming token for token events by doing tasks, you can get up to 1800+ token per day and trivializes the tedious tasks of manual token farming, and you can get three times as much Parade boosting items for Live Parade events. You can retroactively finish Live Carnival lootbox content without even progressing the event.
262* GrowingTheBeard: Over the course of the game, both Cygames and Bandai Namco managed to improve the game by giving them new features or just some quality of life changes.
263** During launch, many 27 to 28 ranked star difficulties often incorporates outdated elements in the note placements and pacing, resulting in some songs like Himitsu no Toilette and TOKIMEKI Escalate being harder due to the FakeDifficulty, or songs like -Engel- Adanasu Tsurugi Hikari no Shirabe and Trancing Pulse being considered rather easy for 28. Nowadays, many songs were charted and rated much more proper to their difficulty, and many newer songs are done so that it would still be challenging without actually frustrate the player. They were also paced well with the beat and rhythm so that you can master the chart through learning from the song itself.
264** The Dance choreography are also a lot less rigid over the course of the year. Previously, the choreography for most arrangement consist only a motion that all five idols are sharing in the same time, which makes them look awkward and uncanny since all five idols in the set is very well-synced. By introducing MV's with separate choreography for each idols, as well as rehashing the motion concept for each models, gives the MV more life by carefully pacing each idol's movement so they won't awkwardly sync, like how real life idol singer would dances.
265** Many card skills were also re-tuned to avoid complacency among the playerbase. The aforementioned Type Focus and Tricolor Synergy was nerfed so it will always be inferior compared to their basic counterpart, while older Type Brilliance card that were only giving you 30% bonus appeal was buffed to 40% to make it closer to the Type Princess center cards, as well as relegating them for regular releases instead of being restricted to limited release like in the past.
266* ItsPopularNowItSucks: The aforementioned Type Focus cards were overly popular with players, thanks to it's massive usefulness in either stages of the game. Apparently, Bamco knows this, and directed many famous idols into having this type of card in their limited SSR release. There's so many option that many who already had enough of their variants become sick of it, while the ones who doesn't even have one grows tired because Bamco purposely pumping out everything about it. Worse still, these cards were on limited release and reruns, but never on [=CinFes=][[labelnote:explanation]]An annual tri-monthly event where every SSR cards obtain rate doubled[[/labelnote]], giving players really thin chance and timespan to draw these cards. Eventually the popularity fatigued out and Bamco stop milking them as hard as before in the limited-time batches. The Type Princess center skill is later used on the more balanced "Alternate" cards that gave it a decent drawback, and the Type Focus skill itself is nerfed hard so that their value is much lower compared to their basic counterpart (Score Boost and Combo Boost), turning the Type Focus card into the shadow of it's former self.
267* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Some SSR looks rather familiar from the ones that had been released prior, which makes the fanbase think whether the ones were designing the costumes are running out of ideas.
268* LowTierLetdown: Abilities that doesn't boost your score gain are rather unfavourable with the fanbase, with few exceptions, but most of the time they're not worth the hassle building your team around it, and with the [[ArbitraryHeadcountLimit five limit unit slot]], you would rather put anything else in the team besides the examples below.
269** Similarly, abilities that has long duration but also long activation downtime were also unfavorable to a lot of players, even if the card itself has meta-defining center skills, unless you only use cards with similar activation downtime and duration. This because having their activation out of sync will significantly hamper your score gains, even if you managed to do a perfect combo with no GREAT taps. The best way to use these skills were to have them all in the same wavelength and downtime so their activation syncs together more often, but recent cards of the same skills tend to have shorter duration and downtime, so players tend to skip the banner if the desired card have out of sync wavelength/downtime for their team and save up their jewels for something that's more compatible with each other.
270** '''HP Recovery'''[[labelnote:Effect]]On [=PERFECTs=], heal certain amount of HP.[[/labelnote]] is often unfavourable due to the fact that the skill is kinda underwhelming over time and most of the time, you're not going to waste much HP for a single song, unless you're playing a MASTER+ chart or attending Live Groove event, or having an Overload character on your party. Most people would rather pick a bonus-boosting skills than maintaining condition, and if they're looking for a healing alternative, they would rather pick '''All Round'''[[labelnote:Effects]]When it activates, COMBO pt bonus on certain percentage, also heal one life per [=PERFECTs=][[/labelnote]] or '''Tricolor Synergy'''[[labelnote:Effects]]Activates when you have all three idol types on your team, where it will apply SCORE/COMBO pt bonus and gives you 1 HP for every PERFECT hit[[/labelnote]] for Rainbow teams. Even worse that the AwesomeButImpractical '''Overdrive''' also has minor healing on scoring perfects, further discouraging players of using the card. The latest update of Overheal and the release of Life Sparkle successfully managed to give HP recovery more importance, thought it's utility mostly seen on endurance events like Live Groove or GRAND Live where you have 15 unit slots to use to your hearts content, and even then it's not really powerful on it's own.
271** Similar to the HP Recovery above, '''Damage Guard''' is also unfavorable due to it's rather underwhelming for it's situational effect and lack of synergy with other kind of cards that uses HP for something. With the introduction of Life Sparkle and Overheal only makes it more obsolete, since it doesn't do much outside of keeping your HP from lowering, which other cards are simply better at it (HP Recovery, All Round and Tricolor Synergy is simply better at keeping your Live and can give a good boost with the Overheal and Life Sparkle combo). It does have use on Overload-centric formations and Skill Boost Perfect Lock strats, but not worth the slot that's better for cards that does benefit you
272** While it's a well designed skill, many seems to dislike '''Overload'''[[labelnote:Effects]]All notes score up to certain percentages, combo maintained to [=NICE/BAD=] at cost of 11 to 15 Health per activation[[/labelnote]] due to the fact that it doesn't sync well with Life Sparkle, a card so meta defining during the set rotation that many would sacrifice safety net cards by simply playing better and never break combo. Overload would slowly gain more favor with the release of cards like "Refrain" and "Alternate" that can copy it's power without drawbacks while also gave you momentary safety net, but otherwise inferior to the more freely available Concentration card that gives you higher score boost at a cost of more dexterity required.
273** Unlike Perfect Lock, '''Combo Lock''' is not as powerful and simply cast aside once you got yourself an SSR Perfect Lock. While both provide Combo protection if you did one mistake, Combo Lock didn't convert it to PERFECT to keep the scoring like the Perfect Lock do and since most of the skill requires you to at least score PERFECT and GREAT, Combo Lock becomes obsolete and doesn't synergize well with other card type with the exception of maybe Combo Bonus or All Round or something. Currently they have no SSR counterpart.
274** Pre-rework '''Concentration'''[[labelnote:Effects]][=PERFECTs=] score up by certain percentages, any hit registered lower than PERFECT '''breaks combo''' (including GREAT)[[/labelnote]] is regarded as one of the worst skills ever released on a card, due to the fact that the amount of reward is not worth it with the cost. It gave the player little to no room for mistakes since anything but PERFECT breaks the player's combo, and its bonus multiplier wasn't really worth it either, to the point that the only way for it to be viable is to run it with Perfect Lock cards and pray for it to trigger at the same time. The reworked version[[labelnote:Effects]][=PERFECTs=] score up by certain percentages, but timing window to score a PERFECT is smaller.[[/labelnote]] turned it into a playable, conditionally more powerful Score Boost and [[AuthorsSavingThrow managed to regain most of people's favour]]. It was later buffed even further to dwarf the rest of the score boosting effects, making the risk-vs-reward factor even higher and becomes a meta defining card for PRP farming and taking the high score.
275** Unless you're aiming for high score and PRP farming, copying skills tends to be shoved off the metagame as they usually have a drawback that makes them more-or-less situational or just downright annoying if it activates. Even gamebreakers like '''Encore''' and '''Cinderella Magic''' were highly situational since they're balanced by their [[MasterOfNone underwhelming stats]] with the former also copies the skill's drawbacks. Both '''Alternate'''[[labelnote:Effect]]When it's active, it lowers your current combo bonus by 20%, but copies your highest score bonus so far and apply an additive 70% bonus on top of it for a set time[[/labelnote]] and '''Mutual'''[[labelnote:Effect]]When it's active, it lowers your current score gain by 20%, but copies your highest combo boost so far and apply an additive 70% bonus on top of it for a set time[[/labelnote]] cards gave justifications to add them to your party (especially true for Mutual cards because they have '''Type Unison''' cards that gave the highest amount of appeal for every card available if you met it's conditions) still gives you drawbacks if you don't have each other or something powerful enough to cover up its weakness and you still had to rely on the base Score/Combo boost modifier if you want big numbers. The only copying skills with no drawbacks are '''Refrain''', which only copies the current best score/combo bonus modifier when active, but otherwise still weak on it's own.
276** The newly introduced skill '''Overdrive'''[[labelnote:Effects]]When it's active, gives you whopping 20% Combo Pts Boost and PERFECT's heal up 1 point of health, but any other taps besides PERFECT breaks your combo[[/labelnote]] brings back the old Concentration card's infamous drawback of breaking your combos if you didn't do a PERFECT tap, and it's generally seen as incompatible with the current metagame that favors Concentration card, which mind you, makes it harder for players to maintain combo while the skill is active. While you can circumvent it's weakness by playing combo maintaining cards (and it looks like the card was designed with playing Overload cards in mind), you still need a card with similar duration/downtime so their activations sync together, which makes them hard to justify adding to the team. It rarely sees play outside of GRAND Lives, where team formation doesn't matter as much as regular WIDE Live because of the team limit nature.
277* MemeticMutation:
278** #ありすクソコラグランプリ (Arisu's Edit Compilation) [[labelnote:Explanation]]In Asuka Ninomiya’s Saite Jewel event card and in one of the event's commu, an exhausted Arisu can be seen on the floor in the background. The fandom has run wild with it.[[/labelnote]]
279** #蘭子クソコラグランプリ (Ranko's Edit Compilation) [[labelnote:Explanation]]Similar exploitable also occurs with Ranko's diving happily into the pile of snow as seen in Tamami's Frost event card.[[/labelnote]]
280** The Fumika Bug [[labelnote:Explanation]]An infamous hoax among the playerbase regarding Fumika's 2nd SSR card costume. Supposedly, a bug would occur that makes the centerpiece of her dress to not load properly, revealing a fully rendered [[NavelDeepNeckline cleavage and midriff underneath]]. Needless to say, fan arts of her with the centerpiece revealed exploded for quite a while before it was later revealed to be an edit by an anonymous user of [=2chan=] using an image manipulation software, with various users debunked it even further that there are no fully rendered breast in the compiled model. The trend slowly died down ever since.[[/labelnote]]
281** "Koi Kaze never" [[labelnote:Explanation]]An in-joke amongst the Western player base, where Bandai Namco (or [[FanNickname Scamco]] as fans called it) would prefer to cash in on fancy limited cards over including "Koi Kaze" by Kaede onto the available song list, in a similar vein to how Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio [[AwardSnub never received his Oscar despite his superb performance on multiple nominations]]. [[SubvertedTrope Just like Leo finally received his Oscar]], the song finally made it into the game as of September 8th 2017, 'killing' this joke off. [[/labelnote]]
282** "we [[VideoGame/GranblueFantasy GBF]] now"[[labelnote:Explanation]]The announcement of changing the gacha rate is identical to Granblue Fantasy's rate (3% SSR rate during permanent or limited gacha, 6% during Cinderella Fes (equivalent to GBF's Legfes) gacha), even funnier with the newly added of Star Shine system which is the same as Sparking from GBF where the players can choose their desired cards after 300 pulls. Additionally, the usually long anticipated Cinderella Fes where SSR rate becomes doubled from usual that would take at least 3 months before the next one would occur would be relegated to monthly deal instead. Better yet, they have announced that Cinfes would be separated to two categories; Blanc and Noir, where Blanc would occur every month and has the standard Cinfes lineup, Noir occurs once every half of the month and has their exclusive lineup different to the past SSR, which is suspiciously similar to the Premium Gala and Flash Gala promotion GBF used. Thanks, {{Creator/Cygames}}![[/labelnote]]
283** Syuko's black hair (actually a wig) in her [Furachi na CANVAS] SR card has led the fandom producing a countless amount of alternate hair color fanarts/edits (be it black or of other colors) of other idols, not only just Syuko as well.
284* MeaningfulReleaseDate:
285** Natsuki's second SSR was released on June 9th 2017, celebrated in Japan as the [[GoroawaseNumber Rock Day]].
286** Riina's second SSR came out around Miku's birthday, while Miku's third SSR - around Riina's.
287** Main commu 52 (featuring Hiromi Seki and her image song, ''Rakuen'') involves Hina [[spoiler:passing out due to lack of sleep and food as a result of the tight deadlines for sending her mangas to print]]. It might seem mundane, given it's Hina, but the commu itself came out just before 2018's Summer Comiket.
288*** Speaking of Hina, her second SSR (which is also a ''permanent card'', mind you) was released on August 10th 2018, the first day of that year's Summer Comiket.
289** Hasumi holds the distinction of being the only idol to have her first SSR released exactly on her birthday.
290* OnceOriginalNowCommon: The idea of different motions of each in the 3D MV is often seen as a breakthrough among fans since most of the time, idols are always synced into one motion during dances, with the first one being "Ankira!? Kyousokyoku". Nowadays, with the introduction of "Yes! Party Time", "Illusionista!", and "Mujuuryoku Shuttle", fans are less excited with the idea ever since.
291** Certain songs from the past that were assigned in the 28s were considered this among the playerbase, as their chart design doesn't age well with how the gameplay evolves over the course of the year, or because a lot of newer 27s is just harder and more challenging in retrospect. This is because past charts difficulty level are assigned almost always from the number of the notes you had to hit for perfect score, not on how they were designed around it, while recent charts start getting extra stars due to the way the note designed to follow the song's flow and rhythm (for example, Kaede's "Koi Kaze" would have been considered at the lower 25s if not because of the flick chains), thus leaving older 28s that wasn't updated to the current standard to be rather underwhelming ("Trancing Pulse", "[=-ENGEL-=] Adanasu Tsurugi Hikari no Shirabe", "M@GIC") or frustrating ("Anzu no Uta", "Himitsu no Toilette", "TOKIMEKI Escalate").
292* ScrappyMechanic: Much like with other mobile idol rhythm games such as ''Videogame/LoveLiveSchoolIdolFestival'', the game offers no recognition or reward for an all-Perfect run, making such runs completely pointless unless you manually keep track of them.
293** The sliding notes, only available on the [=MASTER+=] difficulty, combines hold notes with the ever frustrating flick chains, resulted in a hold notes that you have to drag and follow like most hold notes did, except that you have to drag it to another side, or else you'd miss. The catch? Most of the charts using it have a very little drag gap between slides, which in turn makes it frustrating to complete.
294** For some reason, Alternate also copies the Concentration boosting conditions (not drawbacks), which makes them detrimental because you can only get the Concentration score boost if you hit PERFECT.
295** LIVE PARTY in general. Even after the update that allows card and center skill to be activated regardless of conditions, your scoring is still determined by the card you bring, so chances are you will still lose against a Type Princess cards even if you play the round perfectly. It's the best just simply avoid quickplay and plan out the game with your friends.
296* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Over the course of the game's lifespan, certain changes have been done to the game, with some were not as pleasant as the others.
297** The ones that still sparks quite an argument here is the change done to the stamina systems. Previously, you cannot charge the stamina exceeding your current limit, with anything exceeding it "overcharges" the stamina meter, prompting you to use it before recharging back. Recharging your stamina can be done using stamina drinks or star jewels, which will automatically restores it equal to your current MAX stamina, ensuring that the remaining stamina will be overcharged. Certain players were able to abuse the system a little by recharging to the closest point as possible then fully recharge using star jewels, giving you near double the amount you currently can possess. A new update overhauls the system that you can exceed the stamina cap without having to use it, scale the stamina recharge based on how many you spent, and make sure that any recharge done using either method will not exceed 100 and removing the MAX recharge stamina drink, replacing it with the [=+100=] Stamina drink instead. While there are players who prefer the changes (it's easier to reach double cap this way), others weren't as satisfied, since it's possible that there are players who have exceeded the 100 MAX Stamina point and demanded the change to be reverted.
298** The change regarding points for the events doesn't sit well with the fans until these days, whilst event commu progression is faster now that you only had to accumulate 5000 points for a full commu progression, anything from 25000 points onwards is a tedious grind and you had to accumulate more than 1000+ points to get the next event reward. This doesn't help that the only way to gain more event progression is to use multiplier options that doubles to even quad progression gains (for normal token events), which some events like Live Parade and Live Infinity doesn't have. This is a lot more difficult in events like Live Parade, where the points increases based on area completion over grinding like other event type did. Somewhat alleviated due to the Producer Mastery Points allows you to triple the amount of tokens or Parade boosters you can grab from tasks, and in case of Live Infinity, effectively doubling all event progression asides of fan gains.
299** The decision to turn LIVE PARTY from an annual monthly event into a regular gamemode sparks quite an argument, as the gamemode doesn't serve much of a purpose outside of obtaining old event card reruns or checkpoint grinding (which is rather slow and not really economic) and required a good heft of planning with friends as the quickplay is really unreliable if you have certain cards that worked better with some other, like Focus cards. The update on the formula allows you to essentially activate your card and center skill regardless of the team current layout, but the scoring is still based on your card and it's center skill.
300** "Stage for Cinderella" replaces the multi-type annual election starting from 2022 onwards. It practically splits the election period in 4 different group of idols you can vote, which would compete in the finals for the next title of Cinderella Girls, but it also eliminates the voice idol election where you can vote specific unvoiced idols you want to get a voice with, returning to the old format where unvoiceds will be pitted against voiced idols (and often very popular ones) that will have a slim chance to get a good position and receive their voiced debut. On one hand, simply being in the top 5 of the group election warrants that idol to get a voice[[labelnote:note]]which is what exactly happened except for the third voting gauntlet, with Hijiri, Layla, Izumi, and Eve achieving top 5 (in case of Eve, winning the entire competition) and receive their voices[[/labelnote]]. On the other hand, you'll be hardpressed to find your favorite unvoiced idol going to be pitted against fucking [[BreakoutCharacter Kaede or Riamu]] and only have a sliver of chance to win the top 5 position. Needless to say, this change divided the fanbase a lot, especially after the well received dual election system they have implemented prior.
301* ThatOneLevel: Starlight Stage has more than enough hair-reducing levels for [[ThatOneLevel/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls their own page]].
302* ThatOneSidequest:
303** "LIVE GROOVE" pits you in an endurance round where you had to complete three randomly-picked LIVE of a certain type and accumulate enough audience hype so that you can finally play the event song in an encore. Thing is, the LIVE is randomly picked and you might start with nastier 27s and probably never stop until the Encore song, assuming you accumulate enough hype in the first place. You also can only reroll the Type Groove twice, and it costs a heft amount of coins to do so. At the very least it's one event where Type Brilliance/Princess/Ensemble and the Life Sparkle, Healer, All-Round, and Overload skill cards truly shines.
304** "LIVE PARADE" pits you in a territorial-based objectives where you had to complete set objectives in each region of Japan, progressing through each region by completing PARADE and fulfilling it's objectives, where each PARADE contains up to 3 LIVE on it. Thing is, to progress through each region you need to accumulate region points that's separate from the event completion points, where each points need to accumulated to unlock new region increases with each every region. The objective needed to complete is completely in Japanese and completely different every time, so you had to guess what you need to do by trial and error. Alternatively, you can grind as many region points as your hearts content without fulfilling the objective and unlock new region and come back if you want to progress through the objectives, since the region points accumulated is based on whether you played the LIVE that's on the current song rotation, which doesn't make any sense.
305** "LIVE Carnival" sets you on a separate teambuilding, a turf system where you play on certain LIVE in a certain conditions, and a rank system where you accumulate enough turf points to rank up and unlock more turf to play your LIVE on. The progression points and prizes are completely replaced by the same system used on VideoGame/GranblueFantasy non-redux story events where you draw items from the drawbox until you get to pull the target items and reset your drawbox, which the points are gained from completing a LIVE on a turf. Sounds easy enough, but just like LIVE PARADE above, the conditions presented in each turf are different each time you progressed through a rank and it's completely blocked by the language barrier, forcing you to go on a painstaking team building where you can only have the idol on one team working on that one turf, greatly limiting your choices as you had to carefully build your team around the turf's condition. Did we mention that progressing through each rank is grindy as hell, even more than LIVE PARADE above?
306*** Well, technically no, you can normally progress through the event just fine by keep drawing the intended prize on the drawbox, but the real grind was to rank up your Carnival further into the high ranks as the higher the rank the more LIVE you can do, and you had to painstakingly build up the voltage multiplier bonus to gain as many voltage meter to rank up. You really want to do this because only at rank S you can play the GRAND version of the event song.
307** Just as you think "LIVE Carnival" being the grindiest event type to date, there comes the "LIVE Infinity". So what does "LIVE Infinity" do to take the crown jewel of the grindiest event in the game period? Well, progressing through the event becomes a slog once you reach Floor 30's and you can spend over hundreds of games just to move up one floor. The worst mission type that you had to fulfill is the selected idol fan gain, which requires you to accumulate set amount of fans on that idol you choose (again you don't need to use the custom idol), which mind you, cannot be circumvented through any means, and you can only gain around 1k to 3k fan per normal LIVE. The worst grind by far is Floor 40 on Main Tower, which requires you to accumulate 50.000 fans for that idol. Did you know that the missions cannot be circumvented by playing AUTO live?
308*** That said, the reward of fully progressing the tower is a custom idol card of your liking with stats equivalent to unlimited SSR that you can further tweak with more focused stats from completing other towers and powerful skills (commonly the 3-star [[SomeDexterityRequired Concentration]] skill). Also most of the grinding can be circumvented by allocating all of your Producer Mastery Points to the LIVE Infinity section, which essentially multiplies all progression that makes progressing each floor easier. You still can't circumvent the fan gain missions though, so good luck accumulating up to 50.000 fans for that idol!
309* UnderusedGameMechanic: The practice mode is introduced since release as a way for players to practice on the chart without needing to worry about failing or wasting stamina since it uses different consumables to use. Thing is, the practice ticket are limited and cannot be replenished manually like stamina did, you had to wait for the entire day to fully replenish it, and before the AUTO LIVE update you only have 3 tickets max, at that point you better play the chart normally and spend stamina with it. The AUTO LIVE update does increases the amount of practice tickets by 10 per day and 5 extra more if you spend in-game currency, but it also shares function with the AUTO LIVE mode, which is more useful application of the ticket out of two, and the 8th anniversary update that allows players to retry the chart without spending extra stamina pretty much seals the practice mode fate into obscurity. There's a mastery point that allows you to use practice mode with unlimited tries, but it's considered by others as waste of resource since mastery points weren't easy to get.
310** Similarly, the Special Events voucher (formerly named MASTER+ voucher) becomes this now that you can spend stamina on MASTER+ or WITCH charts while also gain event progression from it (such as tokens, progression meters, Live Infinity objectives, etc). Previously, the MASTER+ voucher is the only way you can play MASTER+ charts (or WITCH charts) and the amount you get is finite per month, but it won't spend stamina at a cost of not gaining event progression from it. Once the update kicks in, little to no players ever used the Special Events voucher to play MASTER+ and WITCH charts since using the cards prevents you from gaining event progression. As the result, Special Events voucher becomes a JunkRare that no one wanted to get and use because it's just better to use stamina to play MASTER+ and WITCH charts, though you can get rid of it by selling it for in-game gold.
311** Idol Birthday bonus boosts all relationship meter gains of select idols in designated dates, but you only get the boost from giving gifts to your idol, but once you maxed it out, there's no incentive to boost it further since you gain nothing from it besides VideoGameCaringPotential. Since Bamco have been pumping the player with boatload of gifts, you don't even need to wait for their birthday to max out their relationship for the extra stats.
312* [[UnexpectedCharacter Unexpected Song Track]]: The new year 9 million live event exclusive music is, oddly enough, a newly released variant of Koi Kaze titled "Koi Kaze -Hanaba-", complete with her own Stage.
313* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: All the [=3D=] concert were done spectacularly, utilizing various visual effects and camera positioning, especially if you used the [=3D=] Rich option. It's still hold as the best looking mobile rhythm game to this day, not even competitors can Special mention goes to "GIRLS in the FRONTIER", "Bi ni Iri Sai o Ugatsu", "Giyu Ninkyou Hanafubuki", "Trust Me", "Crazy Crazy", "Fascinate", "Souyoku no Aria", "Pretty Liar", "Secret Daybreak", "Decoboco Speedster", and "Babel". Some collab songs were also came with amazing visuals, like "[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterMillionLive Harmonics]]" and "[[Anime/ZombieLandSaga Adabana Necromancy]]".
314* TheWoobie:
315** Hotaru Shiragiku, a [[ShrinkingViolet very shy]] girl who is BornUnlucky to the point that in her [[https://youtu.be/Q0V4d7YbxQY communication chapter 55]] people from the previous production that Hotaru join before [[KicktheDog accused & verbally abuse]] her for being TheJinx. Even when she got her debut in 346 production, she got HeroicBSOD, afraid for her being TheJinx to the audience & ran away to random place to "Stay in this cold dark place and be all alone forever" (read: '''DrivenToSuicide'''). She's only '''[[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior 13 years old]]''' for god's sake! Thankfully, the producer & Hiromi managed to find her, [[YouAreNotAlone support her]] & [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments encourage her to return.]]
316* WTHCostumingDepartment: Certain SSR costume design can be rather tacky.
317** The summer swimsuit themed SSR has been a long staple of fan favorite picks since Syuko's "Blue Horizon" limited print and were seen as player's draw priority, but Mizuki's "Advancing Aventure" was probably the most contested of the bunch because of the surprisingly detailed scarf she wore, which looks off and distracting.
318** Momoka's "Innocent White" would have been a great unlimited SSR have it not colored entirely in semi-monochromatic gold. Doesn't help that the 3D model makes the foreground white to be more gold than white, significantly blurring the details.
319** Ranko has two of them, "Dark Princess of Roses" and "White Princess of The Banquet". The former 3d model being considered hideous and rather cheap compared to the superior artwork and the fact that the wing is much smaller than the art suggest, while the latter could be mistaken as a [[AgeInappropriateDress ''lingerie'']] if not for the skirt.
320** Deliberately invoked with Suzuho Ueda's "Smiling Tree", which is a giant tree atop a half-earth skirt costume that looks so tacky and distracting which makes you think of what the hell the designer is smoking on the drawing table, but it fits her character and role so well that no one really mind the inclusion to the game. It also has a [[SimpleYetAwesome Passion Brilliance]] center skill.
321** Shiki's new "Merry Bad Utopia" has a very cool and rad [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot post-apocalyptic plantlike mutant techwear]] concept, but the 3D model didn't do good justice with it; the green vine stands out way too much and the flowers (especially the eyepatch) were cast in [[OffModel low polygon]] that looked ugly and unpolished in comparison to her model.
322[[/folder]]

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